Helping Ryan
by bobbiejod
Summary: After the Oliver incident in Season 1. Child services find out about Ryan's school troubles and take him away. Sandy and Kirsten do everything they can to try to get him back with some help from an unlikely source. New chapter for you guys!
1. Ch 1: Chaos At The Cohens

**AN: **This is my first attempt at OC Fanfiction. Please be gentle with the reviews, but still give me feedback on what I can do to be a better writer. Please R&R!

**Disclaimer: **I own no one. They all belong to Fox and Josh Schwartz.

**Summary: **After the Oliver incident. Child services finds out about Ryan's trouble at school and takes him away. Sandy and Kirsten do everything they can to get him back with an unlikely source to help them.

**Chapter 1: Chaos At The Cohen's**

Ryan Atwood slowly walked into the house after spending the entire day trying to catch up on all the work he had missed while he was on suspension. He knew that Sandy and Kirsten would be home soon and he wanted to refuel before they got home so he wouldn't have to deal with their grilling. He opened the refrigerator to grab something to drink as he heard girlish giggling coming from the couch.

He slowly walked in and spotted Seth lying on the couch as Summer was on top of them; they were in the middle of a major make out session. He quietly cleared his throat and they both sprung apart.

"Ryan, hey." Seth spotted him. "At least you weren't our parents."

"Hey, Chino." Summer greeted him as they both sat up and started to adjust their clothes. "We-We were going to watch a movie. Want to join us?"

"No, thanks. I still have a ton of work to catch up on now that the disciplinary board cleared me to go back to school."

"Come on, man. One hour." Seth told him. "Mom and dad won't be home for a while yet. You can duck out really quick if we hear them."

"Come on, Chino." Summer pleaded. "Don't make me suffer through this movie alone."

"Fine. As long as there is no talk whatsoever about Marissa." Ryan said.

"Deal." They both agreed and Ryan joined them on the couch.

The three of them watched the movie in relatively quiet as Seth offered his constant commentary. The movie was almost over and Sandy and Kirsten still weren't home yet.

"Who could that be this late?" Seth wondered as they all heard the doorbell.

"Your parents?" Summer asked.

"They wouldn't ring the doorbell."

"Maybe they can't find their keys."

"I'll go check." Seth got up and started down the hall towards the door as Summer turned to Ryan.

"I know you don't want to talk about-"

"Don't." he warned her. "I'm not ready to talk about it. Not yet."

"Ok. I won't talk about her. Just so you know, if you need anyone to talk to about anything, I'm here. I know Cohen is only helpful to a point."

"Thanks, Summer." He smiled at her as they heard some commotion at the door.

"Hey! You can't just barge in here barking out orders!" Seth yelled as they watched him follow after two men in suits. "You can't do this!"

"According to this, we can." They flashed an official-looking paper at him.

"What's going on?" Ryan and Summer got off the couch as the two men approached them.

"Are you Ryan Atwood?" one of them asked him.

"Who are you?" he returned.

"My name is Agent Hayward. This is Agent Manns. We're with Child Services."

"Why are you here?"

"Seth?" Summer looked at him as his whole body started to shake.

"Ryan, they want to take you away." Seth told him softly. "Because of the Oliver thing-"

"We've looked into the school records-" Agent Manns started.

"But they dropped all the charges against him." Summer stated. "He's starting back on Monday."

"Not this Monday, he's not."

"You can't just take him!" Seth shouted at them. "My parents are his guardians. They have to be here for this."

"Call them now, Seth." Summer demanded and he grabbed the phone off the counter and dialed his parents' numbers.

* * *

><p>Kirsten Cohen had just pulled out of the Newport Group parking lot when her cell phone started to go off. She sighed as she searched for it, hoping that it wasn't her dad telling her to come back upstairs. She was surprised to see her home phone number flash on the caller ID. She opened it and greeted whoever was on the other end.<p>

"Mom! Thank god! I tried calling dad's phone, but he's not answering. We have a big emergency here."

"Seth, calm down. What's going on?"

"Child services just showed up. They want to take Ryan."

"What?"

"They found out about the Oliver thing. They got copies of the school records-"

"I'm almost there, honey. Just stall them as long as you can. And stop Ryan if he tries to do something rash."

"I'll try." She hung up with Seth and dialed Sandy's cell. It went straight to voicemail so she kept calling until he finally answered.

"Kirsten? What's going on? I have ten missed called from both you and Seth. What's so important?"

"Sandy, how far away from the house are you?"

"I don't know. Maybe ten minutes. Why?"

"You need to get home as fast as you can. Child services are there. They want to take Ryan because of all the school trouble."

"I'll meet you there in five." They both hung up and tried to get there before CPS decided to take Ryan by force.

* * *

><p>Sandy and Kirsten arrived at the house at the same time. They got out of their vehicles as they noticed an official-looking car in the driveway. They rushed inside and heard angry yelling near the kitchen; most of it Spanish. They reached the kitchen and saw Seth, Summer, and Rosa having it out with two men in suits. Ryan was sitting on one of the bar stools near the counter as he looked at an official-looking document before him. They had never seen him that quiet. He looked deflated; almost like he had given up.<p>

"Excuse me!" Sandy said loudly and everyone stopped yelling. "I'm Sandy Cohen. This is my wife Kirsten. Now could you tell me what's going on?"

"It's all right here." One of the agents took the document from Ryan and handed it to him. "We need to take Mr. Atwood with us."

"They just burst into the house." Seth said. "They weren't invited in."

"So you just burst in and scared my sons and their friend-"

Summer looked at Ryan and saw him about to lose it. She knew she had to get him out of there before he lost his temper. She gave Seth a look and motioned out the doors. He nodded as he continued to tell his father what the agents had done since they had arrived there.

"Come on, Chino." Summer pulled him off the chair and took him outside. "I think you need a break from all that."

"I screwed everything up," Ryan sighed as they walked into the pool house and he slumped onto the bed. "I can't believe this is happening."

"Everything is going to be fine." Summer sat beside him.

"They're taking me away." He looked at her. "My worst nightmare-"

"It's probably just temporary." She assured him. "They'll evaluate you for a couple days and realize this is where you belong."

"You think so?"

"Definitely."

Sandy was reading through the document as Kirsten continued on her rant to the agents. Sandy finally put the document down and sighed.

"Kirsten, he has to go." He told her. "It's just temporary, though."

"How temporary?"

"Until they can have him evaluated by a therapist to see how he's coping with everything."

"How long will that be?" Seth asked.

"Monday at the earliest." Agent Hayward told them.

"The earliest? That's four days!" Seth shouted.

"Where is Mr. Atwood?" Agent Manns asked and they all looked and saw the stool where Ryan had been sitting moments before empty.

"Summer took him out to the pool house to get him away from everything."

"He could have run off."

"He's not going to run." Kirsten told them. "He wants to stay here with us. And if he was even thinking about it, Summer wouldn't let him."

"We'll go out and talk to him. Alone." Sandy stated as the agents started to follow them. "We'll get him to come out."

They walked out to the pool house and saw Summer sitting with Ryan on the bed as they talked quietly. They both looked up as they heard them come in. Summer gave them a small smile while Ryan just looked distraught.

"Summer, could you give us a minute?" Sandy asked and she nodded.

"He's really upset, but he won't do anything stupid." She told them as she walked out and went to be with Seth.

"How are you doing, kid?" Sandy asked him as they both sat beside him.

"Really?" he looked at him.

"Sorry."

"No, I'm sorry." Ryan said softly. "This is all my fault."

"Let's not worry about whose fault it is, ok?" Kirsten held him. "They want to keep you for a few days. See how you're adjusting out here with everything."

"And after those few days, what happens?"

"They're going to decide whether or not you belong here."

"So I could be taken away permanently?"

"That's highly unlikely."

"But I do suggest that you don't give them any ammunition." Sandy told him. "Just do what they ask of you, try not to get upset and lose your cool."

"Are we allowed to contact each other at all?" Ryan looked at him.

"I don't think we can, but I'll see if I can pull some strings so we can at least have a phone call."

"We'd better pack you some things." Kirsten told him.

"Just clothes. No valuables." Sandy told her. "They'll take everything once he arrives there."

* * *

><p>Summer was saying comforting words to Seth as the agents stood nearby. They all looked up as Ryan came in carrying his old backpack as Sandy and Kirsten followed him. The agents started to approach them, but Sandy stopped him.<p>

"Could you give us a minute? I promise he won't run. We'll meet you in the driveway when we're done."

"Five minutes," Agent Manns told him as they walked outside.

"You're going to be fine," Summer went to give Ryan a hug. "You've been through worse things than this, right?"

"Right." He said softly.

"I'll see you soon." Seth gave him one of his brotherly hugs that Ryan was always uncomfortable with, but didn't seem to mind this time.

"Ok. It's time." Sandy told them and they all walked with Ryan outside where the agents were waiting for them.

"We should go now," Agent Hayward opened the back door of the car.

"Remember, no ammunition." Sandy whispered to him as Kirsten hugged Ryan tightly one last time and finally let him go as he climbed in the back of the agents' car. All the Cohen's and Summer watched from the steps as the car drove down the driveway and pulled out. Summer held Seth, and Sandy held Kirsten, as they all watched the driveway for several minutes.

Each one of them was hoping that the car would come back up the driveway and the agents would tell them that it was some kind of big misunderstanding. When it didn't happen after awhile, they all eventually went back inside the house.

**TO BE CONTINUED...**

**AN: **So what'd you all think for my first OC story? Tell me what you think. Please R&R!


	2. Ch 2: Adjustments

**Summary: **After the Oliver incident. Child services finds out about Ryan's trouble at school and takes him away. Sandy and Kirsten do everything they can to get him back with an unlikely source to help them.

**AN: **Here's an update for you guys! I can't believe I got so much positive feedback from everyone. Thank you to everyone who left reviews! Anyway, please R&R!

**Disclaimer: **I own no one. They all belong to Josh Schwartz and Fox.

**Chapter 2: Adjustments**

No one got any sleep the night that Ryan was taken away. After they all eventually went back inside, they all just stayed in the den not doing or saying anything. Summer called her house and told her dad what had happened and that she would stay overnight because Seth really needed her. It was well past two am when Sandy forced everyone to go off to bed, but he knew that none of them would be able to get any sleep.

Seth slowly climbed out of bed after finally giving up on getting any kind of sleep and walked out of his room. He saw Summer coming out of the guestroom and she went to him as soon as she saw him there.

"It'll be ok." She whispered to him. "He'll be back."

"That's what my dad kept saying last night."

"It's true." She told him as they walked downstairs.

They walked into the kitchen and saw Sandy and Kirsten standing at the counter with cups of coffee sitting in front of them as they had a whispered conversation. They looked up as they heard a noise and saw Seth come in with Summer and they offered them small smiles.

"Thank you for letting me stay here last night, Mr. and Mrs. Cohen. I didn't want to leave any of you alone." Summer told them.

"It's no problem." Kirsten told her.

"Have you heard anything yet?" Seth looked at his dad.

"Not yet." Sandy sighed. "But I called Rachel from my law firm, and she agreed to be Ryan's legal counsel. She's going to make a stop at the facility later today."

"We wanted to talk to you about something," Kirsten told Seth. "We've talked about this for weeks, and with this happening we think we should just do it now."

"Should I leave for this?" Summer asked.

"No. It's ok if you stay."

"So what is it?" Seth asked.

"We want to legally adopt Ryan so that he can be a permanent member of this family. So this can't ever happen again."

"What do you think?" Sandy asked.

"Well, what took you guys so long?" Seth asked. "He's been living here for almost a year, and you just now decided to do this?"

"Like we said, we've been talking about this for awhile. Rachel said she'll try to put a rush on it."

"Oh!" Summer said suddenly, making the other three look at her. "I have the perfect idea for a present for him when he comes home."

"What is it?" Kirsten looked at her.

"I don't have all the details." She glanced at Seth. "But we're going to need back up. Cohen, let's gather the troops."

"What troops?" Seth followed her out.

"For starters, Luke and the rest of the soccer team."

"I don't know what she's planning, but I have a feeling it's going to take awhile." Seth told his parents as she pulled him out of the room.

"At least she'll keep him occupied for a few hours." Sandy sighed. "I can't say the same for us, though."

"Not again." Kirsten sighed as her cell phone rang and she reluctantly answered it. "Dad, I already told you I'm not coming in. I'm taking some personal days. No. You'll have to handle it all by yourself. Ryan was taken away from us last night, and I'm not going back to work until he is returned."

Sandy held her as she hung up the phone and threw it on the counter. She started to cry and he comforted her.

"It's going to be ok. We'll get him back." He assured her.

"We don't even know what's happening to him in that place."

"Try not to think about it."

"So I just heard Summer's idea," Seth came back down after he got dressed. "I think it's a great idea, but I told her we had to run it by you since it does involve the house."

"What are you talking about, Seth?" Kirsten wiped her eyes.

"The guest room next door to Seth's room." Summer came in after hanging up the phone. "I was thinking that we could turn it into Ryan's bedroom."

"You were?" Sandy glanced at Kirsten.

"With the adoption process underway, you want to appear as a close family unit. Having Ryan in the pool house far away from the rest of you isn't practical. He needs to be close to the rest of you."

"I think that's a great idea." Kirsten smiled at them. "It'll be a great surprise when he comes home again."

"There's Luke." Summer said as they heard a loud honk outside. "We'll be back in a couple hours. We're going to Home Depot."

"Home Depot?" Sandy looked at Seth

"I don't argue with her. I just go along." Seth followed her out and they got into Luke's truck.

"Maybe having a project will keep his mind off everything." Sandy said as his cell phone rang and he picked it up. "It's Rachel. Maybe she has news on Ryan."

"Answer it." Kirsten told him.

"Rachel, any news?" Sandy listened to the other end. "What? Why would they do that? I thought they were taking him to a group home. He's not violent. Ok. Can you get us to have a phone call today sometime? Seven? We'll be waiting for it tonight. Thank you. Bye."

"What's going on?" Kirsten looked at him as he hung up.

"He's not in a foster care group home. They sent him to a teen youth facility."

"Why?"

"Because of his attack on Oliver, they think he's violent."

"He's not violent."

"I know. Rachel's going to try to have him transferred. She's going to meet with him in a little bit. And she told me to expect a call around seven o'clock tonight."

"I just want to hear his voice. I need to make sure that he's ok."

"I know." He held her.

* * *

><p>Ryan slowly awoke that morning as he heard a lot of noise outside the 'room' he was assigned to. He knew he wouldn't get any sleep that night after he was brought to a youth facility instead of a group home. As soon as the agents pulled up to the facility instead of a group home, he had wanted to call and inform Sandy. But the agents didn't listen to him and just shoved him into the facility.<p>

As soon as he was inside, he met up with the administrator and they took his belongings and made him take a shower using this nasty-smelling shampoo. Then they gave him the list of rules for the facility and showed him to his room. He was sharing with two fifteen-year-old twin boys, Alex and Andrew, who were taken from their crack-dealing parents three months ago and who had a history of violence.

"Ryan, you'd better get up." Alex came into the room. "Hurry up and make the bed. They just started down our hall."

Ryan shot out of bed and scrambled to finish before they reached their room. He placed the pillow at the head of the bed as the door opened and the 'warden' came in.

"Impressive," he looked Ryan up and down. "Breakfast is being served."

Ryan quickly followed Alex out of their room and they met up with Andrew in the cafeteria after they got themselves some of the substance that they called food.

"Thanks for that back there." Ryan told Alex.

"No problem." He assured him. "So why are you here? I hear you live with a family in a gated community."

"They think I'm violent because I attacked someone in my school's lounge." He explained to them the entire Oliver situation.

"So no one believed you? Not your foster family or your girlfriend?"

"Well, I didn't tell my parents what I thought, but my brother I told everything to."

"This kid almost killed himself and your girlfriend." Andrew told him. "And you forgave them so easily?"

"Just because I forgave them doesn't mean that I trust them." He looked at them. "And I don't have a girlfriend right now."

"Ryan," he looked up and saw one of the 'counselors' standing there. "You have a meeting with your lawyer now."

"Catch you guys later." Ryan stood up. "I'll meet up with you in the yard."

"See you then." They called after him as he followed the counselor down the hall and into a room.

"Ryan," a lady stood up to greet him once they walked in. "I'm Rachel. I work with Sandy. I'm taking over your case."

"Nice to meet you." Ryan smiled at her.

"You only get a half hour." The counselor informed them.

"I'm Mr. Atwood's legal counsel. I get as much time as I need to talk with my client." Rachel informed him as he left. "So how are you doing here, Ryan? Are they treating you ok?"

"It's fine. Better than Juvie actually. My roommates are decent."

"Good." She opened up a folder. "Now I wanted to inform you that the Cohen's want to move forward with the adoption as soon as possible."

"Adoption? They mentioned something a few months ago, but they didn't say anything else about it, but-"

"They've been steadily working on it the last several months," she explained. "But with what happened last night, they've decided to get it done immediately."

"So what happens then?"

"Well, we'll either have to get your parents to sign over their parental rights or get them taken away."

"It probably wouldn't be too difficult to get their rights taken away." Ryan sighed. "I don't want them to think that I don't care about them anymore."

"If you want, you can write them letters of explanation."

"Yeah." He agreed. "Can I get some letters to the Cohen's as well?"

"Of course." She took out some pieces of paper and a pen and handed them to him. "Now about your stay here, we're still looking at Monday when you can leave here. You just need to go to a couple therapy sessions so they can evaluate your state of mind."

"You mean they want to make sure I'm not insane."

"I guess you can put it that way." She smiled at him. "Sandy wanted me to remind you not to give them any ammunition."

"I know," he sighed as he quickly penned some letters to the Cohen's and his parents and handed them back to Rachel. "Thank you."

"I'll get these to the right people." She assured him. "Now I've been promised that you can make a phone call to the Cohen's tonight at seven. I told Sandy if they don't hear from you by seven-thirty, to call me. You will get to talk to them tonight no matter what."

"Thanks." He shook her hand as they both walked out of the room.

Ryan met up with Alex and Andrew in the yard and saw them under a tree kicking a beat-up soccer ball back and forth to each other. They looked up and smiled when they saw him approach them.

"How'd your meeting go?" Alex asked.

"Good." Ryan smiled. "Apparently, the Cohen's are rushing to get the adoption finalized."

"That's awesome, man."

"But they have to relinquish my parents' rights."

"But you said they were both train wrecks."

"That doesn't mean that I want to hurt them."

"I totally understand," Andrew said. "Even if our parents are losers, you still feel a sense of loyalty towards them."

"Enough about me," Ryan said. "What about you guys? Do you think you'll be out of here soon?"

"Hopefully by the end of the week." Alex told him. "Our maternal grandparents are trying to get custody of us right now."

"Good for you guys," Ryan joined them in kicking the ball, trying to take his mind of things

**To Be Continued...**

**AN: **On a side note, did anyone watch Rachel Bilson's new show, Hart Of Dixie? I loved it! It's going to be one of my favorite shows for sure! I think it's great that she was the first choice of Josh when he started casting for it. Anyway, until the next update...


	3. Ch 3: Rescued

**Summary: **After the Oliver incident. Child services finds out about Ryan's trouble at school and takes him away. Sandy and Kirsten do everything they can to get him back with an unlikely source to help them.

**AN: **Another chapter for you guys. Hope you like it. Keep up the reviews. They make me very happy. Please R&R!

**Disclaimer: **I own no one. They all belong to Josh Schwartz and Fox.

* * *

><p><strong>Chapter 3: Rescued<strong>

The same day that Ryan had his meeting with Rachel, Sandy was on the phone arguing with the administrator of the youth facility at eight o'clock at night because they hadn't talked to Ryan yet. Kirsten stood by as Seth came down with Summer after hearing all the yelling.

"We were promised a phone call from our son at seven. It is now eight. I demand to talk to him." Sandy spoke into the phone.

"I got it." Seth said as the doorbell rang, anxious to get away from all the tension. "Grandpa, come in."

"What's all that racket?" Caleb looked towards the stairs as he heard pounding and some laughter.

"Seth, Summer, and some of Ryan's soccer teammates are making the guest room into Ryan's permanent bedroom." Kirsten told him as he walked into the kitchen. "We all agreed to it."

"I don't care if he is in a therapy session. He can continue it once we're done talking to him." Sandy's voice got louder after each word. "Put my son on the phone so we can talk to him."

"Who is he talking to?" Caleb looked at Kirsten.

"The facility where Ryan is." She told him. "We were promised a call at seven, but they wouldn't let him out of therapy early."

"What facility is he at?"

"It's the teen youth facility on the other side of town." Caleb took the phone from Sandy and spoke harshly to the person on the other end.

"This is Caleb Nichol. I own half this town including that facility. Now let my daughter and son-in-law talk to their son, or I will shut you guys down so fast." Sandy, Kirsten, and Seth looked at Caleb in shock as he spoke; never had he ever come to Ryan's defense since he met him.

"Thanks, dad." Kirsten told him.

"You guys get ten minutes." Caleb handed the phone back to Sandy. "I'm going to go finish some business."

Caleb walked out of the house and took out his cell phone and dialed a number and waited.

"Yeah. It's me. I need you to shut down that youth facility you investigated a few months ago. As soon as possible. My grandson, Ryan, is being held there. I'm afraid of what he's going through in that place. Just let me know as soon as it's done."

Caleb hung up the phone as he climbed back into his car and pulled out. He may not have given Ryan a fair chance up till now, but no one deserved to go through what he thought was happening in that facility at that very moment.

* * *

><p>Ryan sat on the uncomfortable couch across from the 'counselor' who sat in a chair across from him writing in a folder every time he offered one-word answers or a shrug of his shoulders. He was trying very hard to keep his cool, but he was close to losing control. Everything they asked him about the Oliver incident, made it sound like they were looking to blame him for the entire thing.<p>

Ryan was pulled out of the torturous therapy session when he was informed that the Cohen's were on the phone for him. He was led into a private room and sat at the table as he picked up the phone.

"Hello?" he spoke into the phone.

"Ryan, thank god." He heard Sandy. "Hold on. I'm going to put you on speaker phone."

"Ryan, are you ok?" he heard Kirsten.

"I'm fine. Who all am I talking to?"

"The three of us. Summer's here, too." Seth told him.

"Hey, Chino." He heard Summer's voice.

"Hey, Summer."

"So how are you handling everything, kid?" Sandy asked him.

"It's fine. My roommates are kind of cool. The food here is worse than Kirsten's, though." He heard everyone, including Kirsten, start to laugh.

"So everything's ok, then?" Sandy asked. "How are the therapy sessions?"

"Torture." They heard a hollowness in his voice. "It's like everything I say, they turn it around so that it's all my fault."

"Just hang in there, ok. Monday isn't that far away."

"I know." He turned around as he heard the door open and saw one of the guards. "They're telling me I have to hang up now."

"Ok. Just keep your head up, kid. You'll be out of there soon."

"We'll see you soon." Seth told him as they all heard a dial tone.

"He didn't sound like the Ryan that we know." Kirsten said as Sandy hung up the phone.

"Those kinds of places change people." Sandy told her.

Summer pulled Seth out of the room and led him back upstairs into the guest room. Luke was finishing putting together the desk, and a couple of Ryan's teammates were putting together a bookcase.

"We just talked to Ryan." Seth informed them.

"How'd he sound?" Luke asked.

"Different." Seth told him. "But dad says that place probably changed him."

"He'll be out soon." Chip called. "I hope he likes this surprise."

"I just need to figure out what kind of mural to put on the wall." Summer said. "Nothing I come up with really screams Ryan."

"Just do something with sports." Luke suggested. "Or the beach. Or both."

"Maybe." Summer thought about it.

Sandy and Kirsten peered into Ryan's new room and smiled at the amount of effort everyone was putting into it for Ryan. They walked away from the room, leaving the teenagers to their project and went to their bedroom to talk about the conversation they had with Ryan.

* * *

><p>Ryan was in the 'activity room' with Andrew and Alex just chatting when the door opened and a group of people came in.<p>

"Oh my god." Andrew looked up wide-eyed.

"Grams? Gramps?" Alex said astonished.

Ryan watched in jealousy as they ran to their grandparents and they all hugged each other. They all talked excitedly as Alex introduced them to Ryan.

"He's our roommate. He's only here until they evaluate him."

"Nice to meet you." They shook his hand. "I hope you're out of here soon."

"Me, too." Ryan agreed as Alex gave Ryan their new mailing address and told him to write to them once he got out.

Ryan said good-bye to them as they received all their belongings back from the administrator and followed their grandparents out to their car and pulled away from the facility.

Ryan got back to his room and saw another kid there lying across one of the beds. His new roommate, he assumed. Just by looking at him, he knew that he wasn't going to like him as well as his last roommates.

"Hey," he looked up at him abruptly. "Name's Riley. What's yours?"

"Ryan," he sat down on his bed.

"No offense, but I don't like you. I'm not here to make friends. I'm only here because I have to be."

"Fine by me." Ryan lay back on the bed and sighed, knowing it was going to be a long stay judging from his new roommate's attitude.

* * *

><p>Caleb was at home reading through some files for work when his cell phone went off. He picked it up immediately once he saw who it was.<p>

"What'd you find out? Can you get it done? You can't do it tonight? No. We'll go first thing in the morning. The sooner, the better." Caleb hung up and sighed, hoping he'd be able to get there in time for Ryan.

* * *

><p>Sandy and Kirsten were up early again the next day and stopped when they heard noises coming from Ryan's new room. They slowly opened the door and saw Seth and Summer arranging the furniture that they had put together the night before. They were arguing about where to put everything when they saw them standing in the doorway.<p>

"You guys did all this in one day?" Kirsten looked around amazed.

"We're not quite done with it." Summer told them. "We need to bring all his things in from the pool house, and I think he needs some new sheets, and I still need to do the mural."

"I think he'll love it either way." Sandy told her. "I need to call Rachel and get an update on Ryan."

"I'll go with you." Kirsten followed him out.

"Now let's finish this, Cohen. Then we can go get his things." Summer said as they continued to rearrange the furniture.

* * *

><p>Caleb pulled up to the facility early the next morning and walked in and approached the sign-in desk.<p>

"I'm here to see Ryan Atwood." He stated to the person at the desk.

"Mr. Atwood isn't allowed any visitors unless it's his lawyer."

"I'm much worse than a lawyer. My name is Caleb Nichol-" he was cut off when an alarm sounded and someone ran in.

"We need back up. It's the Atwood kid again." Caleb followed behind the staff members and into the meeting room where a group of teenagers were gathered around some kind of commotion.

Caleb pushed his way through and saw a nearly-unconscious Ryan lying in the floor as someone knelt above him punching him.

"Sir, you can't be in here."

"I can be wherever I want." Caleb stated. "As of now, this facility has been shut down. Now pull that kid off my grandson this minute."

It took four staff members to pull the hot-tempered youth off Ryan. He was barely coherent as the medical staff tried to help him.

"Caleb, I'm here." A short man came into the room. "Randall is in the lobby."

"Good. Take care of it." Caleb got Ryan off the floor and practically dragged him out of the room. "One of you get his belongings while I take him out to my car."

Ryan wasn't really aware of what was happening until he was placed into a comfortable seat and he felt himself moving very fast. He tried to move his head, but it was too painful.

"Just hang in there, Ryan." He heard a familiar voice, but it didn't make him feel very safe.

"Mr. Nichol?" he managed to open his eyes a crack.

"I'm taking you to get checked out at the hospital, and then I'm taking you back home to Sandy and Kirsten."

"Thank you." He managed to whisper before he gave up on any more coherent speech and passed out from the pain.

* * *

><p>Ryan knew that the rest of his stay at the 'facility' would be harder that it had been so far. Judging from how his new roommate and the rest of the inhabitants now treated him now that his old roommates had already left. He tried to stay out of everyone's way and not give them any ammunition, but now it seemed like they went out of their way to torture him. And it's not as if the staff would come to his 'rescue'. In their minds, they all deserved to be punished.<p>

He barely got any sleep the night before due to the fact that Riley wanted to stay up past lights out and the 'guards' kept coming into their room to tell him to do as they said. When the alarm sounded, he slowly got out of bed and made his bed before they came in to check it. Unfortunately, Riley got to the made-up bed right before they came in to check on it. When the guards found it messed up, they promised Ryan a hard day by telling him that he would have to do some 'hard labor' before he would be able to eat his breakfast. Although the guards made a point to double-check his work, not believing that he could finish before they thought he would. So they gave him more work to do, which he finished just as fast.

* * *

><p>It was after breakfast when the attack came. He had just walked into the 'activity' room when his new roommate Riley came up behind him. Before he could react or try to defend himself, he found himself pinned to the floor and he felt the pain explode in his head as it continued to get worse. Suddenly after what felt like hours, he heard a harsh voice and his opponent was lifted off him. He was picked up off the ground and dragged out. He was put into a comfortable seat and he felt himself moving. He swore he could remember having a conversation with Kirsten's father, but thought he was just imagining it. Caleb's hated him since before he met him. There's no way he would've helped him.<p>

* * *

><p>Ryan regained consciousness in the emergency room with Caleb standing off to the side as the doctor and nurses checked his reflexes again. The doctor was leaning over him lying prone on the hospital bed as he shone a penlight in his eyes. He startled awake and glanced around the room at everyone, his eyes landing on Caleb.<p>

"What's going on?" he asked softly.

"Welcome back, Mr. Atwood." The doctor told him. "How are you feeling?"

"What happened?"

"You took a pretty good beating. It's a good thing your grandfather got you here when he did. We've already done x-rays and a cat scan and it shows no long-term damage. We want to keep you here a few more hours to make sure you don't have a concussion."

"Ok." Ryan said, confused about the 'grandfather' part.

"Just keep him awake, Mr. Nichol. I'll come back to check on him in a few hours." The doctor walked out and Caleb walked closer to the bed.

"So they were referring to you when they were talking about my grandfather?" Ryan looked at him. "Why didn't you correct them?"

"That's what I announced when I brought you in." he told him.

"What's your game?"

"What?"

"You must have something planned for me. Are you going to send me to an even worse place once I can get out of here?"

"No. No matter what I think of you, no one deserves to be in a place like where I pulled you out of." He reached over for the Styrofoam coffee cup near Ryan's bedside and saw him flinch from him, but didn't mention anything about it.

"And you just plan on taking me back to the Cohen's just like that?"

"Well, there are some conditions."

"I knew it." Ryan sighed.

"I think you'll be able to live with these."

"So what are they?" he listened in wonder to the conditions that Caleb was relaying to him as he kept thinking that he had to have a motive.

**AN: **So what'd you all think? Next chapter Ryan will be reunited with the Cohen's. But is he the same Ryan that left? Please R&R!


	4. Ch 4: Coming Home

**Summary: **After the Oliver incident. Child services finds out about Ryan's trouble at school and takes him away. Sandy and Kirsten do everything they can to get him back with an unlikely source to help them.

**AN: **Here's the latest chapter for you guys. I meant to post it this past weekend, but I got busy with school, work, and watching my cousins. Any way, please R&R!

**Disclaimer: **I own no one. They all belong to Josh Schwartz and Fox.

**Chapter 4: Coming Home**

Sandy was on the phone early Sunday morning trying to get through to the facility where Ryan was. He hadn't been able to get anyone to answer on the other end yet, though. He finally gave up and decided to call his office and talk to Rachel.

Kirsten came down as they both watched Seth, Summer, and Luke bring all of Ryan's belongings from the pool house and take it all upstairs.

"Rachel, I can't get through to the facility where Ryan is." Sandy spoke into the phone. "What do you mean? No. I didn't know that. Ok. Thank you."

"What was that about?" Kirsten asked him as he hung up the phone.

"She's surprised that we didn't know that the facility was shut down early yesterday morning by a business tycoon and his associates." He looked at her.

"You mean-my dad?"

"Call him. Find out where Ryan is." Kirsten got out her cell phone and dialed her dad's number.

"Dad, where are you? You are? Ok. We'll see you in a few minutes." She hung up the phone.

"He's coming here?" Sandy asked

"Said he has a surprise for all of us."

"You don't think-he has Ryan?"

"I really don't know. He's been acting strange since Ryan was taken. For him to rescue Ryan, that's very unlike him."

* * *

><p>Ryan sat silently in the passenger seat of Caleb's car as he drove towards the gated community. Caleb glanced at him hoping to see some kind of reaction from him. He had been quieter than normal since they left the hospital. They had to bandage up his left wrist after finding that it was sprained, and he had numerous bandages on his face, neck, and stitches in the back of his head from his head hitting the hard concrete floor as the doctor concluded. Caleb noticed that Ryan flinched away from him every time he moved his hand to the shifter in between the driver and passenger seats. So he knew something more than the fight had happened in the facility.<p>

"Do you think they know?" Ryan asked suddenly, after Caleb had talked to Kirsten on the phone. "About you getting me out, I mean."

"I don't know." Caleb answered as he pulled up Sandy and Kirsten's driveway and turned the car off. "Wait in here five minutes while I talk to them."

"Sure." He said softly as Caleb climbed out of the car and walked into the house.

"Hello?" Caleb called as he walked into the kitchen and found Sandy and Kirsten standing at the counter.

"Dad, what's going on?" Kirsten asked him.

"Where's Seth?"

"Upstairs finishing Ryan's bedroom."

"Go get him. This involves all of you."

"Seth!" Sandy called up the stairs. "Get down here!"

"What's going on?" Seth came downstairs. "We only have a couple things to finish. Grandpa?"

"I have some important news for all of you." Caleb told them.

"Does this have anything to do with you shutting down the facility where they took Ryan yesterday morning?" Sandy asked.

"Grandpa, you actually did that?" Seth looked at him.

"Yes. When I found out which facility it was that they took him to, I made some calls. There've been a few incidents involving the occupants the last few months, but nothing could be proved. So I made arrangements for the occupants to finish out their time in other facilities."

"And Ryan?" Seth looked at his grandfather. "Did you do the same for Ryan? We all know how you feel about him-"

"Can I come in yet?" a familiar voice called out as they heard the door open and shut. "I've been sitting in your car waiting for your signal."

"Oh my god." Kirsten ran to Ryan as he came into them.

"Careful." Ryan flinched as she hugged him tightly. "Still sore."

"Sorry." She pulled back and took inventory of all the cuts, scrapes, bruises and bandages all over his face."But you're back now, right?"

"Yeah." He smiled at them as Sandy and Seth came over to them and they gave him a group hug. "Although Caleb made me promise to some conditions before he would agree to bring me here."

"What conditions?" Seth asked, curious.

"Why don't you fill Seth in while I talk to Sandy and Kirsten outside?" Caleb told Ryan as he led the two of them out of the house.

"Ok. What did you find when you got there?" Sandy asked Caleb once they were standing in the driveway. "It had to have been bad for you to just pull him out of there like that."

"He was on the floor unconscious as one of the other kids beat him up. The guards were just standing by and letting it happen." He revealed and Kirsten gasped. "I got him out of there as fast as I could and took him to the hospital. We would've been here last night, but the doctor wanted to make sure he didn't have a concussion."

"Thank you, dad." Kirsten hugged him. "I know you haven't been his biggest fan since he came here."

"He hasn't exactly been my biggest fan either."

"So what are these conditions you made him promise to?" Sandy asked.

"Yes. I told him he had to join a couple sports to get rid some of that aggression he has built up inside him. He also needs to go to counseling."

"Counseling?"

"I told him it was because of his anger, but there is another reason." Caleb explained. "I notice that he clams up every time I mention the facility. He flinched every time I moved as we were driving over here, so I think something happened that he doesn't feel comfortable talking about."

"Therapy is probably a good idea for him, then."

"Oh. And I told him he should stay away from Marissa for now. At least until she's able to get herself straightened out."

"That's a good idea," Kirsten agreed. "Now I think you should agree to some conditions as well."

"What kind of conditions?"

"You want Ryan to do sports, you have to go to the games; at least all the home games."

"Agreed."

"And weekly meals that should include you getting to know Ryan a little better. You might find that you have more in common than you know."

"That's reasonable, I guess."

"You'd better stick to these if you want Ryan to stick to his." Kirsten warned him before they started to go back into the house.

* * *

><p>Luke and Summer came downstairs when they heard all the commotion. They walked into the kitchen and saw Seth talking to someone at the counter. They didn't see who it was because they had their back to them.<p>

"Cohen, we need to finish." Summer told him. "It has to be done before Ryan comes back."

"Chino!" Luke smiled at him when he turned around to face him. "How'd you get out already?"

"It's a long story. I'll tell you about it later."

"In that case, let's go upstairs." Summer told him. "We have a surprise for you. Let's go."

"Ok." Ryan followed them all up the stairs and they stopped outside the door to the guest room by Seth's room. "What's going on, you guys?"

"When mom and dad announced that they were going to officially adopt you, Summer decided that you shouldn't be in the pool house."

"You should be close to your family." Summer told him as she turned the door knob. "So welcome to your new room."

Summer pushed the door open and Ryan followed them in. He looked around in awe as the others watched his reaction. The bed was near the middle of the room with new bedding. There was new furniture against the one wall; the dresser was full of all his clothes with the stereo from the pool house on top of it, the bookcase was filled with some of the books that he had read for school so far and Seth had added some comic books, and the desk had his laptop sitting on top of it. Ryan was in awe of the paintings on the walls. Behind the head board of his bed was a mural of a beach scene at sunset. The wall near the window had a painting of a soccer ball that took up the entire wall with his number on it.

"You guys, this is amazing." He said softly.

"Summer did the paintings." Seth told him. "Luke and the guys from the soccer team put the furniture together."

"I know it's not as spacious as the pool house, but at least you're close to your family now." Summer told him.

"Thank you." Ryan said softly.

"So, come on. Tell us what were grandpa's conditions for him bringing you home." Seth said as they all walked back downstairs.

Sandy and Kirsten came back inside as they saw Ryan coming downstairs with Seth, Summer, and Luke. They had obviously already shown Ryan his new bedroom. They were talking excitedly with him as they reached the bottom of the stairs.

"So sports, counseling, and no Marissa?" Seth was saying. "I think those are reasonable conditions."

"I'm just glad to be out of that place." Ryan told them.

"Hey. Where's grandpa?" Seth spotted his parents by the door.

"He left to give us some family time." Kirsten smiled.

"Right. We'll go, too." Luke told them and Summer followed him out.

"Come on, Ryan." Sandy smiled at him. "You know where the menus are. It's your choice tonight."

Seth followed him to the kitchen and watched him open the take-out menu drawer. Sandy and Kirsten watched Ryan intently all throughout dinner without letting him know that they were watching him. He flinched involuntarily every time he tried to move his left hand to try to take one of the take out containers. But he seemed to be holding something back as he told them what had gone on in the facility. They realized that Caleb was right; something else had happened that he didn't want them to know about. He definitely needed therapy to work through everything.

"That last roommate of yours sounds like he has a screw loose." Seth told him. "So what do you say we play some video games now?"

"We'll let it go tonight," Sandy told them. "Since it's your first night back. But your punishment from the school problem is still in effect for tomorrow."

"Let's go enjoy your freedom while you still have it." Seth told him and they went into the living room.

"So what do you think?" Kirsten looked at Sandy.

"I think something happened to him in there." He told her. "And if we don't take immediate action, he'll shut down on us."

"I'll call and ask the doctor if he can recommend any good psychiatrists."

Sandy and Kirsten watched Seth and Ryan play their favorite ninja game as they sat beside each other on the couch. They noticed a look on Ryan's face that they didn't recognize, and it scared them. They knew they had to take action as soon as they could.

* * *

><p>A few hours later, Ryan and Seth retreated to their rooms. For a moment, Ryan was going to go out to the pool house until he remembered that he had a new bedroom upstairs. He slowly walked in and turned on the light as he took a better look at everything. He walked to the bookcase and saw his team photo from when he played soccer. There was also a soccer ball with signatures from all his teammates scrawled all over it. He eventually made it to the bed where he collapsed on top of the covers and fell asleep within minutes.<p>

Sandy peered into Ryan's room when he went up to check on him and Seth before heading off to bed with Kirsten. He saw Ryan fast asleep still fully clothed on top of the bed covers. He silently walked in and proceeded to remove his shoes and put them on the floor just below the bed. He got a light blanket and covered him as Ryan stirred a little bit, but remained asleep.

"Good night, kid." He said softly. "You're home now, Ryan."

As he was walking out of the room, he could've sworn he heard a soft voice say.

"Good night, dad." Sandy turned out the light and closed the door behind him as he sighed deeply.

Maybe they were finally making some progress with Ryan. Maybe now he knew that they wouldn't give up on him; no matter what.

"Sandy?" Kirsten came up the stairs and saw him just staring at Ryan's closed bedroom door. "Is everything ok?"

"Yes." He followed her to their bedroom. "I think everything is going to be fine now."

Or so he thought…

**TO BE CONTINUED...**

**AN: **So what'd you all think? Please R&R!


	5. Ch 5: Back To Normal?

**Summary: **After the Oliver incident. Child services finds out about Ryan's trouble at school and takes him away. Sandy and Kirsten do everything they can to get him back with an unlikely source to help them.

**AN: **Here's another chapter for you guys. Hope you enjoy it. Please R&R!

**Disclaimer: **I own no one. They all belong to Fox and Josh Schwartz.

**Chapter 5: Back To Normal?**

"Ryan! Wake up!" Ryan turned over in bed and saw Seth coming into his room. "It's Monday. Your first official day back to school."

"Oh, joy." He slowly sat up and stumbled to the bathroom.

"You're not excited to go back?"

"Not if I have to see Marissa." He called.  
>"It's a big school. You probably won't even see her."<p>

"She's Summer's best friend." He came out to retrieve some clothes and went back into the bathroom.

"I've got your back today man."

"That makes me feel good." He mumbled.

"Boys!" Sandy called up the stairs. "Let's go! You're going to be late!"

"We'd better get down there." Seth told him.

"I'll be down in a minute. I'm almost done." Ryan closed the bathroom door as Seth walked out.

Seth walked downstairs and saw his parents deep in conversation. Sandy looked up as he spotted Seth coming into the kitchen.

"There's one." Sandy smiled. "Where's Ryan?"

"He's getting dressed." Seth told them. "Apparently, we forgot the alarm clock when we were moving his things from the pool house."

"There's the other one." Sandy saw Ryan come in with his book bag. "So how's your wrist?"

"I just took a couple pain killers."

"Are you ready for today?"

"Sure." He shrugged as he took a bagel from the basket on the counter as Kirsten placed a cup of coffee before him. "I'm fine, you know."

"We know."

"Then quit acting like you think I'm going to snap any minute."

"That's not it." Kirsten told him. "It's just-we found a therapist for you."

"Why didn't you say that?" he looked at them. "When's the appointment?"

"You're looking forward to the appointment?"

"No. Of course not." He looked at all of them. "But it's not like your dad gave me much of a choice when he pulled me out of that place."

"Your appointment is tomorrow at four." Sandy told him. "One of us will pick you up from school and take you."

"Fine." He mumbled as he finished his coffee.

"That's Summer." Seth said as they heard a loud honk. "I'll go out and make sure that she's alone."

Sandy watched Ryan take his mug to the sink as he picked up his bag and walked out of the kitchen. They heard the front door open and close as he followed Seth out of the house.

"He agreed to counseling way too easily." Kirsten said.

"I know." Sandy agreed. "I think your dad is right. Something happened to him inside that place; other than him getting attacked and beat up."

* * *

><p>After seeing just Summer in the car, Ryan climbed into the back seat and they drove to the school. Ryan was quiet the entire ride there and silently walked into the school and to his locker.<p>

"Hey, Chino!" Luke came up to him when he saw him. "It's good to have you back."

"Thanks," he mumbled.

"Has she tracked you down yet?"

"You mean Marissa?" he nodded. "Not yet. But we do have first period together."

"I have first period with you, too. I'll sit with you so she doesn't."

"Thanks," the warning bell sounded and they made their way to their American History class.

Ryan handed in his makeup work to the teacher and followed Luke to his table and sat across from him. He spotted Marissa sitting a few tables over and turned away from her as she tried to get his attention.

"This is not going to be easy," he mumbled as he opened up his book.

* * *

><p>At lunch, Ryan was tired out from trying to avoid Marissa. He sat down at a table by himself and started to eat in peace. He sighed in defeat when someone sat down beside him and looked up to see Marissa.<p>

"What?" he grumbled.

"I just wanted to make sure that you're ok." She told him.

"I'm fine. You can leave now."

"Ryan-"

"I can't see you anymore."

"That's what my mom told me after she talked to Caleb."

"He made me agree to some conditions before he would take me back to the Cohen's. One of them was that I couldn't see you anymore."

"And you're going to follow his orders? Just like that?"

"Caleb helped me out when I needed it the most. I'm not going to throw it away for someone who doesn't know how to trust."

"I trust you."

"You have a funny way of showing it."

"Marissa," Luke came up and sat beside Ryan. "What are you doing? He has orders not to see you."

"She was just leaving." Ryan told him.

"Ryan," Marissa tried to plead with him.

"Leave him alone." Luke told her and she silently walked off.

"Thanks for that." Ryan told Luke.

"Don't mention it. I know how needy she can be." He assured him. "So baseball tryouts are in a few weeks. Do you think you'll go?"

"I used to play baseball, but I'm rusty. I haven't played in at least three years."

"So we can go down to the batting cages and train."

"Not this week. I'm still grounded for the whole Oliver thing here at school. Besides, I can't do anything with this." Ryan lifted his bandaged left wrist.

"Ok. So next week."

"I'll think about it." Ryan sighed as lunch ended. "Great. I have Chemistry next. Marissa is my lab partner."

"Ask if you can have another partner."

"I'll try." He went to dispose of his tray and walked to his next class.

He turned in his makeup work and asked if he could have another lab partner. When the teacher was about to refuse, Ryan told him that it would be in the best interest of the class because there was a risk of explosion if they were to remain lab partners.

"Is anyone willing to switch lab partners to Mr. Atwood here?" he addressed the class as Ryan tried to ignore the look that Marissa was giving him.

"I'll be his partner," Ryan saw an overly-enthusiastic girl near the middle of all the seats.

"Very well. Mr. Atwood, you're now with Ms. Townsend." Ryan slowly moved to his new table and sat down.

"Thank you for switching." Ryan told her. "I don't want to deal with her the rest of the year."

"No problem." She smiled at him. "For the record, I knew there was something wrong with that kid."

"You mean Oliver?"

"Yeah. His smile was always creepy."

"But you never attacked him in the student lounge."

"No. But we all lose our cool every so often."

"You do know who I am, right?" he looked over at her.

"The kid who steals car, and burns down model homes. Big deal." She told him. "You did your time. Now you can get on with your life."

"So what's your first name?"

"Taylor." She told him.

"Ryan," he got out his lab assignment. "Just bare with me. I'm still a little behind in this class."

"If you want, I can help you catch up."

"You mean tutor me?"

"Kind of." She looked at him. "I have an A in this class; I can help you."

"Ok. How about this weekend?"

"You can't do it sooner?"

"I'm grounded until the weekend because of all my school trouble." He told her. "Plus I have to help out with setting up for the Valentine's Day Dance this weekend, and I have a doctor's appointment tomorrow."

"Well we can hang out at lunch and try to study."

"Sure. See you then." Ryan packed up his things again as the class let out and he met up with Seth as they walked to their Spanish class.

"Were you just talking to Taylor Townsend?" Seth asked him as they found their seats.

"Yeah." He mumbled. "She's my new chemistry lab partner."

"She's a little weird is all."

"People say that about you too." Ryan looked at him. "But I know better."

"Ok. Benefit of the doubt. Got it." Seth turned towards the front of the classroom as the teacher came in.

* * *

><p>Ryan decided to walk home instead of catching a ride with Seth and Summer. He walked through the front door and had every intention of going straight up to his room to start on his homework.<p>

"Ryan? Seth? Is that you?" he heard Kirsten call.

"It's just me." Ryan went in to the kitchen. "Seth is with Summer."

"How's the wrist? And your head?"

"They're fine."

"Would you like to help me take this stuff down and help me start to set up for the dance?"

"I have a lot of homework." He said quickly.

"A half hour, I promise. An hour tops."

"Fine." He sighed as he helped her take the boxes out to the range rover and they drove to the club.

"So how was school?" She asked him as they took everything inside.

"Fine." He mumbled. "I went. I came home."

"Did you see Marissa today?"

"I have three classes with her. Of course I saw her."

"You know what I mean."

"No I didn't try to talk to her, but she did try to talk to me. Fortunately, Luke had my back."

They pulled up to the club and Kirsten opened the back of the car and they started taking all the boxes in. Ryan started setting up the tables as Kirsten tried to keep all the Newpsie's away from him. He got done with the tables and just sat at the bar as Kirsten kept talking to them.

"Hey, Ryan." He looked up and saw Taylor Townsend.

"What are you doing here?" he smiled at her as she sat down beside him.

"My mom is helping to set up."

"So is Kirsten." He spotted her across the room as she was ambushed by another Newpsie.

"That's my mom." Taylor told him. "She's a sports agent. She's also on the school board."

"So she wanted to kick me out." Ryan stated.

"Yeah. I hope you know that I don't share her feelings."

"It's ok. Although Kirsten doesn't look like she's enjoying herself at the moment." He told her as he winced painfully.

"My mom does tend to bring that out in people." She looked at his pained face. "Are you ok?"

"My wrist is just starting to throb again." He said softly.

"Do you have any pain killers or anything?"

"They're at the house."

"Just stay here. I'll be right back."

Ryan laid his head on his good arm as Taylor went to Kirsten.

"I'm sorry to interrupt," Taylor told her mom. "But Mrs. Cohen, I think you should take Ryan home. He said his wrist is hurting."

"Oh. He should've taken another dose thirty minutes ago." Kirsten glanced at her watch as she went to the bar where Ryan was. "Come on, sweetie. We're going home now. Sorry. I got bombarded by Veronica Townsend."

"I saw that." He mumbled as he stood up and followed her towards the doors.

"I'll see you tomorrow, Ryan." Taylor told him. "Feel better."

"See you, Taylor." Ryan offered her a smile as he walked out and climbed into the car.

"You know Taylor?" Kirsten looked at Ryan as they pulled away.

"She's in my Chemistry class." He told her. "She volunteered to be my lab partner when I told the teacher I didn't want to be stuck with Marissa for the rest of the year."

They arrived home and Ryan slowly walked into the house as Kirsten followed behind him and found his pain killers. Ryan quickly took a couple and went to lie down in the den. Kirsten was talking on the phone with Sandy telling him to pick up some supper when she heard the door open and close and saw Seth coming into the kitchen.

"There you are. Were you at Summer's?" she asked him as she hung up.

"Yeah. Where's Ryan?"

"In the den. He just took some pain killers." She glanced at him. "So did you try to wait for Ryan so you could give him a ride home after school?"

"He said he didn't want to wait around for us, so he just decided to walk home."

"I'm home." Sandy announced as he came in with the take out containers.

"Seth, go wake up Ryan." Kirsten told him. "Those pain killers knocked him out."

"Sure." He went into the den and saw him passed out as a copy of the book they were reading for English was lying across his stomach. "Ry, wake up."

"Huh?" his eyes shot open and he spotted Seth standing above him.

"Dad just got home with take-out."

"Oh. Ok." He slowly stood up and followed Seth to the kitchen and sat down at the table as some plates were brought over.

"So how was school, boys?" Sandy asked them.

"Fine." Seth mumbled.

"Ryan?"

"It was fine." He mumbled as well.

"You guys can't give us anything more than that?"

"Ryan has a new chemistry lab partner." Seth said. "Taylor Townsend."

"Dude, that's my story. Not yours." Ryan glanced at him.

"Then why didn't you tell us?" Sandy asked.

"Because I didn't feel like sharing." Ryan mumbled. "Besides, Kirsten already knew."

"She was at the club with her mom when Ryan came with me to set up. They talked while I was cornered by everyone."

"All the Newpsies were telling you that you should've just left me at the facility." Ryan mumbled as he picked at his food.

"I was hoping you didn't hear any of that." Kirsten told him.

"It's not like I haven't heard it all before."

"It doesn't make it right." Sandy told him, which in turn made Ryan shrug his shoulders. "So other than that, how was school?"

"Uneventful," Seth told him. "Which is how I like it."

The rest of the meal was spent in silence with Ryan pushing the food around on his plate, eating only a few bites. He excused himself as they were packing away all the leftovers, saying he needed to do his homework.

"He sure didn't eat that much." Sandy observed.

"And he was moody." Seth said. "More than usual, I mean."

"Loss of appetite and irritability are side effects of the pain killers." Kirsten told them. "I think he'll be ok; as ok as someone can be after spending time in a facility like he did."

"His first psychiatrist appointment is tomorrow." Sandy told them. "Hopefully it will help him."

Ryan sat on his bed reading the sixty pages he was supposed to read for English class. He didn't really understand what he was reading; too occupied with thinking about his therapy session the next afternoon. He just hoped it was better than the sessions he had at the youth facility. Anything had to be better than that. It still made him nervous and apprehensive to think about what was to come the next afternoon.

**AN: **So what'd you all think? Please R&R!

**Preview Of Next Chapter: **Ryan's first therapy session.


	6. Ch 6: Therapy

**Summary: **After the Oliver incident. Child services finds out about Ryan's trouble at school and takes him away. Sandy and Kirsten do everything they can to get him back with an unlikely source to help them.

**AN: **Another chapter for you guys. I worked on it as much as i could this weekend. I even gave up a night on doing my school work, which was probably not a good idea. But I'm happy about how this chapter turned out. Please enjoy and leave some reviews!

**Disclaimer: **I own no one. They all belong to Josh Schwartz and Fox.

**Chapter 6: Therapy**

Ryan awoke on Tuesday morning with his history book and notebook beside him. He must've fallen asleep as he tried to finish up his homework. He slowly got out of bed and got ready for school even though he still had forty-five minutes before everyone else would be up. He gathered his books for school and went down to the kitchen; he was surprised when he saw Kirsten sitting at the table with some papers around her. She looked up abruptly as he came in and put his book bag on the counter and sat on one of the stools.

"What are you doing up so early?" she asked him as he took out one of his books and a pen.

"I need to finish my homework." He told her. "What about you?"

"New development plans." She told him as they both got back to work.

They both got involved in their work and soon lost track of time. Sandy came into the kitchen and saw Kirsten at the table looking through some papers, and Ryan at the counter hastily scrawling in his notebook.

"You two are up early." He observed as he went to get a cup of coffee.

"Work." They both responded, not looking up.

"All right." He went to grab a bagel as Seth came downstairs.

"You know, you're really starting to make me look bad." Seth told Ryan, who looked up at him.

"I'm not even going to pretend that I was listening to you." He told him. "Is Summer coming to get us?"

"Yeah. She's on her way." He told him as he started to pack up his books and grabbed a bagel from the counter as they all heard a loud honk. "She's here already? That was fast."

"Ryan, remember-" Sandy started as they both started out of the kitchen.

"Therapy. Four o'clock. I know." He mumbled as he followed Seth outside.

"I'm surprised he hasn't tried to get out of it yet." Kirsten looked at Sandy as they heard the door close.

"I'm sure he'll try something before his appointment today." Sandy said.

"I'm sure he will, too."

* * *

><p>Ryan walked to his locker to gather his books and met up with Luke as he was coming out of the office.<p>

"Hey, Chino." He greeted him. "How's it going?"

"So far, so good." He sighed. "But it's still early."

"Come on. Let's go." They walked to their history class and sat down as the teacher arrived just as the bell rang. "So I hear you're hanging out with Taylor Townsend."

"Don't start. She's nice."

"I don't know. She's a little crazy."

"She's not as bad as Oliver."

"Ok. Good point." They passed their homework up to the front as the teacher turned on the projector and everyone started taking notes.

By lunchtime, Ryan was ready for any kind of break from all the other students. He walked into the library and sat on one of the cushion couches and sighed.

"Hey, Ryan. Ready to begin?" Taylor sat down beside him.

"Oh, right. We were supposed to study, weren't we?" he looked at her. "Is it ok if we do it tomorrow? I have a lot on my mind."

"What's going on?" she looked at him full of concern.

"I'm a little anxious about my doctor's appointment this afternoon."

"Are you getting your stitches out?"

"Not that kind of doctor's appointment."

"Oh. They're making you talk to a therapist, aren't they?"

"How'd you know?"

"They made me go see one after my dad left. It's really not that bad."

"No offense, but you like to talk. Talking got me in trouble when I was younger, so I learned not to unless I absolutely had to."

"You might find that it's helpful."

"Not a chance." He mumbled.

"You owe it to yourself to at least try."

"I guess." He sighed as he just sat silently beside Taylor the entire lunch hour, and then followed her to Chemistry.

* * *

><p>At three-thirty that afternoon, Ryan was sitting on the curb outside of school as he waited for Sandy or Kirsten to come pick him up for his appointment. He just hoped they both weren't going to take him. He was anxious enough as it was.<p>

"Waiting for Mr. Cohen?" he looked up and saw Taylor.

"Aren't you supposed to be in some kind of meeting?" he asked her.

"I was, but the social chair didn't show." She sat down beside him. "No offense to your ex or anything-"

"If anyone has anything bad to say about Marissa, I'm all ears." He looked at her. "But unfortunately, I have to go. There's Sandy."

"Well, I'll see you tomorrow." She told him as he stood up as the Jaguar pulled up to where they were.

"See you." He got into the front seat and Sandy pulled away.

"How was school?" Sandy asked him.

"Fine." He mumbled.

"Was that Taylor I just saw you with?" Sandy asked him.

"Yeah." He mumbled as he stared out the window.

Sandy sighed as they spent the rest of the car ride in complete silence. They all knew that Ryan wanted nothing to do with counseling, but he had at least agreed to come. Sandy was just waiting for him to make some kind of excuse to get out of it. It wasn't long before Sandy pulled up to an office building and turned the car off. Sandy climbed out of the car and came around to the other side and waited for Ryan to get out, but he remained where he was.

"Come on, kid." Sandy knocked on the window. "This was one of the conditions. At least give it a chance."

Ryan let out a deep sigh as he slowly opened the door and eventually climbed out of the car. He followed Sandy into the building and waited while he checked in with a receptionist behind a sliding glass window.

"He's ready for you." Sandy looked at Ryan. "Go on back. I'll be here when you're done."

Ryan nodded and slowly walked back as the receptionist directed him to a room. He walked in and took in his surroundings; it was a small room that didn't feel very welcoming to Ryan at that point. It was set up to look like a living room, with two chairs and a small couch. He opted to sit in one of the chairs and waited for the doctor to come in.

"You must be Ryan," the door opened and a man in a suit came in and sat in the other chair. "I'm Dr. Freedman."

Ryan nodded.

"The Cohen's told me you're not much of a talker."

Ryan shook his head.

"Well, you should probably try to get over that." Dr. Freedman opened up a file. "Now why don't you tell me why you're here?"

"It was one of the conditions."

"Conditions?"

"When Mr. Nichol got me out of the youth facility."

"Mr. Nichol is Kirsten's father?" Ryan nodded. "So do you get along well?"

"Not at all. He's hated me since before he met me. He thinks I'm after the Cohen's money."

"So if you don't get along, why do what he wants you to do?"

"Have you ever spent time in a youth facility?" Ryan challenged.

"No."

"Well if you ever did, you would agree to anything to get out of a place like that."

"So are you ready to talk about what happened?"

"No."

"Ok. So why don't you tell me about the Cohen's?"

"What do you want to know?"

"How do you feel about them?"

"I'm grateful to them."

"Why are you grateful to them?"

"Because they didn't have to take me in when my mom ditched me, but they did."

"So do you feel close to them?"

"At times."

"Give me some examples."

"Whenever Seth and me play video games, or do other things together."

"So you and Seth do things together a lot?"

"Not as much now that he has a girlfriend."

"Are you resentful towards him or his girlfriend because you don't spend as much time together as you used to?"

"No. I'm glad he has a girlfriend."

"Ok. Now let's talk about Sandy and Kirsten."

"What about them?"

"What are your feelings towards them at this point?"

"I-I don't know."

"Ryan, I assure you that whatever you say in this room, stays in this room unless you say otherwise."

"I'm not really sure how I feel about them right now."

"How did you used to feel about them?"

"I used to think that they would always be there for me. They wouldn't judge, criticize; that they'd always be on my side."

"And you don't feel like that now?"

"Well, they did seem to believe a practical stranger over someone they claimed was a part of their family."

"You're referring to Oliver Trask." Dr. Freedman looked through his file again.

"I'd rather not talk about him."

"Ok. How about your girlfriend? Marissa Cooper?"

"She's not my girlfriend."

"Why not?"

"It's another one of Mr. Nichol's conditions. Not that it took a lot to convince me to end it with her. She didn't believe me either."

* * *

><p>Sandy sat in the waiting room as Ryan was in talking with the doctor. He impatiently flipped through all the magazines that were displayed on the tables as he counted down the minutes to the end of the session. The door finally opened and Ryan came out looking drained. It had obviously taken a lot out of him.<p>

"He wants to talk to you in private before we leave." Ryan told him.

"All right." Sandy stood up. "Just wait here."

"Sure." Ryan sat on one of the chairs as Sandy went back to talk to him.

He walked into the office and saw the doctor going through his notes on Ryan. He directed Sandy to sit down in the chair across from him and he did so.

"First of all, I'm surprised I got him to open up at all after what you told me about him." Dr. Freedman told him.

"But he did talk to you?"

"With little hesitation, I might add."

"So what's the verdict?"

"He said he wasn't ready to talk about his time in the facility or the Oliver situation, so I had him talk about his family. And I'm definitely getting that he has trust issues."

"We've known that since we took him in."

"Well, those issues have heightened after what all has happened the past couple of months. You, your wife, and your other son will really have to prove yourselves to him in the coming weeks."

"We figured as much." Sandy sighed.

"And I'd also like to suggest a group session with your entire family once a month to try to resolve all this. Or at least to start to resolve all this."

"I think we can do that." Sandy listened to what all the doctor had to say, and then walked back out to Ryan.

"Can we go yet?" Ryan asked.

"Sure. Come on." They walked outside and climbed into the car, where Sandy realized that Ryan had a black composition book. "What's that?"

"The doctor gave it to me. He wants me to try to write in it twice a week."

"And are you going to?"

"I don't do diaries."

"It could just be a journal if that'll make it seem less girlish to you."

"I don't do journals either."

"If the doctor suggested it, I would at least-"

"Give it a try." Ryan finished. "I'll think about it."

The rest of the car ride was silent as they both thought about what the doctor had told them. When they arrived home, Ryan grabbed his things and went straight up to his room. Sandy went into the kitchen to wait for Kirsten to arrive home so they could talk about Ryan's session.

* * *

><p>Kirsten arrived home with some take-out and found Sandy in the kitchen just standing near the counter. He looked up at her as she came in and tried to offer her a smile.<p>

"Hey." She kissed his cheek. "So how'd Ryan's first therapy session go?"

"I think it went ok. Dr. Freedman suggests that we do a family session once a month."

"That's a good idea." She agreed. "So where is Ryan now?"

"In his room. I think he just wanted to be alone after therapy. Although I think Seth went up to see him as soon as he got home."

"Well, there's no yelling. So he must not be aggravating him too much."

* * *

><p>Ryan lay on his bed just staring at his cell phone. He was thinking about calling Taylor Townsend to talk to her about his therapy session. She was the only one he knew of that had been to therapy before. Well, there was Marissa. But he wasn't going to call her. He sat up as there was a knock at his door and Seth came in.<p>

"Hey, man. Do you want to talk?" he sat on the desk chair.

"About what?"

"You had your first therapy session today."

"And I don't feel like talking about my feelings anymore today. I just did that for the past hour."

"Ok. Fair enough." He said. "So Summer said that Taylor Townsend was wondering about you."

"I told her about me going to therapy. Actually, she guessed it. She's been to therapy before; when her dad left. We were talking about it a little bit after school before Sandy came to pick me up."

"Do you like Taylor?"

"She's starting to be a good friend."

"That's not what I meant."

"I know what you meant. I'm not ready for that just yet."

"Boys! Supper is ready!" they heard Kirsten coming up the stairs.

"I so don't feel like dealing with your mom's inquisition about therapy as well. Do you mind asking her if I can eat up here? Tell them I have a lot of homework."

"I got your back, man." Seth walked out and a little while later returned with a tray of take-out containers. "They said it's fine for tonight. I, however, am not that lucky. I'll see you after supper."

"Thanks." Ryan sat up and ate a little as he pulled out some of his school papers to make it look like he was doing actual work in case Sandy or Kirsten decided to check on him.

* * *

><p>Kirsten headed up to bed early that night; Sandy was finishing up some work in his office, and Seth was playing a video game in the den before he went to bed himself. She decided to check on Ryan before she retreated to her bedroom for the night since she hadn't seen him since that morning. Seth had collected his dinner tray and she was happy to see that he had ate a little more than half that was sent up to him. She slowly opened the door and saw the lights out and a lump underneath the covers on the bed. A couple of his textbooks were on the floor below the bed.<p>

She started to leave the room again until she heard a faint sound that sounded like crying. Since she had known him, Ryan had never cried. She crept towards the bed as he started tossing on the bed.

"Ryan," She slowly placed a comforting hand on his back and started to shake him. "It's ok. It's me, Kirsten."

"Kirsten?" he startled awake and turned to see her sitting there beside him.

"Are you ok?" she asked, concerned.

"Yeah. Why do you ask?"

"It sounded like you were having a very bad dream."

"It did?" he rubbed his eyes.

"You don't remember it?"

"No, I don't." he looked at her. "I'm sorry I didn't make it down for supper."

"I understand it was a long day for you. Don't worry, I won't ask you about therapy."

"Thank you."

"Just know that if you ever need to talk, I'm here. Just like Sandy and Seth are here for you, too."

"I know." He said softly.

"I'll let you get back to sleep. Good night."

"Night." He watched her leave his room and sighed.

He really hoped that she believed his little white lie about not remembering his nightmare.

**AN: **So what'd you all think? I'm going to start writing another chapter after I try to catch up on my school work. Please leave some reviews!


	7. Ch 7: Jumping To Conclusions & Talking

**AN: **So i wasn't sure about this chapter, but decided to post it anyway. Please R&R!

**Disclaimer: **See other chapters.

**Chapter 7: Jumping To Conclusions & Talking**

Friday afternoon, the day before the Valentine's Day Dance, found Ryan in the library again studying with Taylor. He sighed deeply as he tried to concentrate on the subject of inorganic chemistry.

"I'm never going to catch up."

"Of course you will." Taylor assured him. "We can try to meet up outside of school if that will help. Maybe this weekend."

"I have that dance tomorrow." Ryan sighed. "I don't really want to go, but I don't think I have a choice."

"I have to go, too." She told him. "We can make an appearance, then leave and do something fun."

"Sounds good." He sighed as the bell rang; they packed up their books and walked to Chemistry class.

* * *

><p>Kirsten was home early so she could finish setting up for the dance the next night. She glanced in the den as she saw Ryan laying on the couch as he read a book for school.<p>

"Hey," he glanced up at her.

"How was your day?"

"Fine. I think I'm halfway caught up now."

"Feel like taking a break?"

"I already did my time this week. Seth is upstairs, though."

"I'll make him come with me then."

"Where am I going?" Seth came down with Summer.

"Do you guys feel like helping me set up for the dance?" Kirsten looked at them.

"Sure." Summer told her.

"Why doesn't Ryan have to help?" Seth watched him still lying across the couch.

"I did my time this week." Ryan mumbled.

"And he has work to catch up on." Kirsten told him as the phone rang.

"I got it!" Sandy called as he walked into the house.

"He's home early." Ryan mumbled as he went back to his book.

"Ryan! Get down here!" Sandy called a few moments later, startling all of them.

"He's in here, Sandy." Kirsten called and watched as he came into them.

"What's the matter?" Ryan slowly sat up on the couch.

"I just got off the phone with Dr. Kim."

"I didn't do anything." He defended.

"That's what she's worried about. The counselor noticed that you haven't been eating lunch this past week."

"Yes, I have." He defended as Kirsten looked at him as well. "Just because I didn't eat with the rest of the school, doesn't mean that I didn't eat."

"Then where did you eat?"

"In the library."

"They allow food in the library?"

"No, but Taylor was able to sneak some things in. Some chips or cookies. I haven't had much of an appetite lately anyway because of the pain killers that I'm on."

"Taylor Townsend?" Kirsten asked.

"She's helping me catch up on all the work I missed in Chemistry. I'm pretty much caught up in every other subject."

"Oh." Sandy sighed.

"So you just got angry at Ryan for nothing." Seth told his dad.

"I'm sorry, Ryan." Sandy told him.

"Whatever." He stood up and walked past them towards the stairs.

"Ryan-" Kirsten tried to stop him.

"I still have some studying to do." He mumbled as he started up the stairs.

"Congratulations, dad." Seth looked at him. "You just guaranteed an extra ten counseling sessions for him."

"Let's go wait out in the car, Cohen." Summer pulled him away, trying to diffuse the sudden tension in the room.

"Sandy-" Kirsten started.

"I know. I messed up." He sighed. "But Dr. Kim-"

"That woman is not always right. She was wrong about Ryan not being Harbor school material, and she was definitely wrong about Oliver."

"I know." He looked at her. "I'll try to talk to him while you guys are setting up at the club."

"Good luck." She told him as she walked outside after Seth and Summer.

* * *

><p>Ryan sat on his bed, fuming. Sandy was seriously mad about him possibly skipping a few meals after everything else they were all dealing with? He took out his cell phone and started to dial a number as a knock came at his door.<p>

"What?" he grumbled, knowing it would be Sandy.

"Can I come in?" the door opened a little bit.

"It's your house." He mumbled as he put his cell phone away.

"I think we need to talk, kid."

"Here to accuse me of something else I didn't do?"

"I deserve that." Sandy pulled the desk chair over by the bed and sat down.

"So what do you want?"

"I understand you're upset with me and you have every right to be, but you need to check the attitude." He looked at him and Ryan glared back. "I'm sorry about jumping to conclusions, but the truth is we have no idea what to say or do anymore."

"What do you mean?"

"When you were in that facility-"

"I'm not talking about what happened in there." Ryan interrupted him.

"We don't want you to if you're not comfortable yet. But you were different when you came back to us."

"What do you mean?"

"There was a hollowness in your eyes. Even though you were smiling and talking and saying all the right things, we could tell that you were different."

"You said it yourself, people change in places like that. And I probably did."

"But the thing that concerned us the most was your weight."

"My weight?"

"You had lost a lot of weight after only spending a few days in there. You were always skinny, but you were frighteningly thin when you returned."

"If you saw the food they wanted to force us to eat, you would've lost your appetite too."

"I'm sure you're right, but you haven't been eating that much at mealtimes."

"It's the pain killers." He sighed.

"Are you sure that's all it is? Or is it something more than that?"

"It's just the pain killers. I swear."

"Good. We have enough to worry about without having to be concerned with your health as well."

"Well I should be off the pain killers by next week. So you can see for yourself whether I'm telling you the truth or feeding you a load of bull."

"I guess we will." Sandy stood up. "So are we good?"

"For now." Sandy was pleased to see Ryan attempt to smile.

"So Kirsten and Seth will probably be gone for awhile. Want to do something?"

"Like what?"

"Playstation? I've gotten a bit rusty."

"Sure." He shrugged and followed him down into the den.

Kirsten returned home a couple hours later and saw them playing a video game in the den. She smiled at them as she placed the take-out containers on the kitchen counter.

"Hey, honey. How'd it go?" Sandy called to her.

"Well, Seth complained the entire time. He's having supper with Summer." She started to take the food out of the containers. "Ryan, I ran into Luke at the club. He said something about the batting cages and baseball tryouts."

"He wants me to try out, but I haven't played for a long time." Ryan told them. "So he suggested we go to the batting cages to practice."

"So why haven't you?" Sandy looked at him.

"Because I'm still being punished this week. And it's not like I can hit baseballs with this." Ryan held up his wrist. "When am I getting this off, by the way?"

"You have a checkup on Monday." Kirsten told him. "We'll see then. Come on, you two. Let's eat."

Ryan shut off the Playstation and followed Sandy into the kitchen as they joined Kirsten at the table. Knowing that they were most likely watching him eat even though they were pretending that they weren't, Ryan ate more than he actually wanted to just so there wouldn't be any more parental visits to his room that night. Ryan helped them clean up, and then went up to his room for the night.

"So how'd your talk with him go?" Kirsten looked at Sandy

"I think it went ok." He sighed. "It's hard to tell with him sometimes."

"But you got him to talk?"

"He didn't talk about his time inside that place, but yes we talked."

"It's a start at least."

**AN: **So what'd you think? Next chapter will be better. Please R&R!


	8. Ch 8: Valentine's Day

**AN: **Another update for you guys. I'm trying to get them out for you guys sooner, but I'm having a little trouble getting my ideas down. I know where i want this story to go and what kinds of conflicts i want to happen, but I'm not sure how to put my ideas down into words. Anyway, please R&R!

**Summary: **See earlier chapters.

**Chapter 8: Valentine's Day**

Saturday night found Ryan dressed in a pressed suit as he sat on the bottom step of the stairs. He looked up as Seth came downstairs and sat down beside him as he looked equally as glum as Ryan did.

"I think I have a spinal injury." Seth told him.

"No more talk of fish sex." Ryan said.

"Are you ready, boys?" Kirsten came down with Sandy.

"No." they both mumbled.

"Come on. We'll suffer through it together." Sandy told them and they all slowly walked outside and got into the range rover.

Once they arrived at the club, everyone went their own ways. Ryan sat at a table by himself at the dance as he saw everyone else clearly enjoying themselves. He sighed deeply as he looked around trying to find Taylor so he could actually try to have a little fun at this party. He saw Sandy and Kirsten at the bar, and spotted Seth and Summer having an intense discussion. He got up from the table as he saw Marissa try to approach him and headed outside. As he opened the door, he heard a high-pitched voice.

"Taylor, you need to-"

"I know, mom."

"So where is this friend of yours that you said was meeting you here?"

"He's probably already inside."

"You'll excuse me if I don't hold my breath."

"There you are, Taylor." Ryan went out to them. "I thought we were meeting inside. I was starting to believe that you blew me off."

"Not a chance. I just got here." She smiled at him. "How is it inside?"

"Boring." He sighed as he glanced at Taylor's mom. "Ms. Townsend."

"Ryan." She said curtly as she walked inside.

"Thanks for that." Taylor looked at him. "My mom can be-"

"It's not a problem." He told her.

"We can hang out together out here." Taylor told him. "So how's it going?"

"Better. There was a slight misunderstanding between me and Sandy yesterday. I almost called you, but I didn't think you'd want to hear about my pointless problems."

"You could've called me." She smiled at him. "You can call me anytime if you need to talk to someone. No matter how pointless you think your problem is."

"Thanks."

"Hello, Ryan." He looked up and saw Kirsten's father.

"Mr. Nichol."

"How's the party?"

"Boring. Why do you think I'm out here?"

"I wanted to tell you that I was planning on coming over for dinner next week." He told him.

"Ok." Ryan shrugged.

"I'm hoping you can be there."

"Why?" Ryan eyed him suspiciously.

"Kirsten made me promise to some conditions after she heard about the conditions I made you promise to. One of them was weekly dinners with you."

"Seriously?" Ryan made a face.

"I guess we'll both be suffering."

"Come on. Let's go to the pier." Taylor started to pull Ryan away.

"I'll tell Kirsten." Caleb told them.

"Tell them I'll be back by curfew." Ryan told him as he followed Taylor down the steps and Caleb walked inside.

* * *

><p>Ryan sat with Taylor at a table on the pier as they had slices of pizza and shared some nachos. Taylor let off some steam about an all-day argument she had with her mom. Ryan actually listened to her even though he couldn't really give her any advice.<p>

"Sorry for rambling." She told him. "Once I get started, it's hard for me to stop talking."

"I live with Seth. I'm used to it."

"So how's therapy going?"

"I've only had one session."

"You don't have to tell me what you said. I just want to know how it went."

"It's ok, I guess. He only wanted to know how I felt about the Cohen's. I told him that I don't trust them."

"I guess that's understandable."

"I want to trust them-"

"You just don't."

"No."

"Come on. I'm still hungry. Let's get a corn dog. We can talk some more if you want to." Ryan followed her down the walkway as she went to one of the vendors and got them each a corn dog.

* * *

><p>Sandy and Kirsten arrived home after helping to clean up the club a little bit. They wanted to spend some time alone together, but they wanted to make sure the boys arrived home. Kirsten went to check on Seth, while Sandy went towards Ryan's room. He knocked briefly on the door before walking in. He saw the room dimly-lit by the small lamp on the bedside table as Ryan lay stretched out across the bed.<p>

"Hey. You made it home."

"Taylor dropped me off a little bit ago." He said softly.

"Are you ok?" he noticed that his color was off.

"We ate way too much."

"Do you need me to get you anything?"

"I'll be fine. I'll sleep it off."

"All right. See you in the morning." Sandy walked out and saw Kirsten coming from the direction of Seth's room.

"Summer is here. I told them she had to leave in ten minutes."

They walked up to their bedroom and closed the door behind them.

* * *

><p>Kirsten slowly awoke the next morning as she heard a faint noise coming from down the hall. She sat up fully on the bed as Sandy turned over and looked at her.<p>

"What's the matter?" he asked her.

"Can you hear that?" she looked at him.

"Hear what?"

"It sounds like one of the kids is sick."

"When I checked on Ryan last night, he said he ate too much food."

"I'll go check on him." Kirsten got out of bed and pulled on her bathrobe as she walked out of the room.

Kirsten went to Ryan's room and quietly opened the door. She glanced into the bathroom and saw it empty. Then she walked further into his room and spotted him sitting on the edge of his bed looking a little green as he held his trash can on his lap in front of him.

"So I take it you were the one that I heard a little bit ago." She went to him and he nodded his head.

"Shouldn't have done that." He mumbled. "I tried to lie down. Room was spinning."

"What all did you eat last night?"

"Stuff from the pier."

"You really shouldn't have too much of that at once."

"No more talk of food." He moaned.

"Sorry." She felt his forehead. "You don't have a fever. It's probably a 24-hour thing."

"How's the patient?" Sandy appeared in the door.

"I think it's just his stomach." Kirsten told him.

"I'll go down and see if we have anything that can help him." Sandy left again and Kirsten took the trash can and tried to get Ryan to lie down.

"Are you feeling anything?" she asked him.

"Not yet." he mumbled sleepily.

"It's bed rest for you today. I'll see if Seth won't mind lending you some video games to occupy you today."

"Mmm." His eyes started to close as Kirsten sat down beside him as she softly rubbed his back.

Sandy rummaged around in the refrigerator for the ginger ale he knew they still had. He looked up as he heard a noise and saw Seth come stumbling into the kitchen.

"Why is everyone up so early?" he mumbled. "And what is all the noise coming from Ryan's room?"

"Ryan ate too much food at the pier last night." Sandy told him as he finally found some ginger ale in the back of the refrigerator. "He is out of commission today."

"Got it." Seth slumped at the counter. "I'll take him a survival package later."

Sandy walked back upstairs into Ryan's room and saw him lying down on his side fast asleep as Kirsten covered him back up.

"How is he?" he asked her.

"He fell back asleep." She sighed.

"I found some ginger ale. Maybe it'll help him." He set it down on the table beside his bed. "I'll go to the store later and get some more."

"I think it might be food poisoning." She told him.

"Yeah. Probably."

"He said he was up a few times last night. How did we not hear him?"

"We were a little…occupied." He looked at her.

"That's right." She smiled at him.

"I'm not asleep, you know." They heard a soft voice and looked at Ryan as he turned over on the bed. "You're not succeeding very well in making me feel better."

"Sorry, kid." Sandy went to him. "I got you some ginger ale for your stomach."

"Thanks." He said softly.

"Can we get you anything else?" Kirsten asked him.

"Just tell Seth to leave me alone." He mumbled. "I can't handle his ramblings today."

"He has a survival package for you." Sandy told him. "After he brings it to you, this room is off-limits to him."

"Thanks." Ryan covered his head with the blanket and Sandy and Kirsten walked out of his room.

* * *

><p>All that day, Ryan stayed in his room. He slept most of the day; except when Seth brought in his survival guide for the bedridden which consisted of some comic books, Seth's PSP with a few games, and his ipod. After he was there for more than ten minutes, Sandy had to pull him out of the room and ban him from Ryan's room for the rest of the day.<p>

Kirsten brought up a bowl of soup around lunchtime to see if Ryan would eat anything, but he refused it. So she left some crackers for him in case he did get hungry later.

Kirsten quietly opened Ryan's bedroom door to check on him again and saw him turning over onto his side as his eyes slowly opened.

"Kirsten?" he spotted her standing there.

"Sorry. I didn't mean to wake you."

"You didn't." he slowly sat up. "I'm thinking Summer is in Seth's room with him right?"

"Yeah." She smiled. "She arrived a few minutes ago."

"That's what woke me up." He mumbled.

"So how are you feeling? Are you hungry?"

"Not really."

"Well, you should try to eat something. You haven't had anything all day. I'll go heat up some soup for you." She started out of the room again.

"Hey, Kirsten?" Ryan called after her.

"Yeah?" she turned back around.

"Thank you for today."

"I didn't do much. You slept most of the day away."

"It was still more than my mom ever did. I'm just not used to it is all."

"Well, you better start getting used to it." She smiled at him as she walked out of his room.

Kirsten returned a few minutes later with a wooden tray that had a bowl of chicken broth, some crackers, and some more ginger ale for Ryan. He slowly started to eat as Kirsten sat nearby.

"Did you really make your dad promise to weekly meals here?" Ryan looked at her.

"Yes, I did."

"What did I ever do to you?"

"You'll get through it." She smiled at him. "Besides, we'll all be there."

"Like that'll stop him from insulting me." He mumbled.

"I think he's softening. He got you out of that place."

"He had a momentary lapse."

"Give him a chance for me."

"Fine." He sighed as he managed to eat more than half of the soup.

**AN: **So what'd you all think? Please give me some ideas where you think this is going or where you would like this to go. So please R&R!


	9. Ch 9: Appointments

**Summary: **After the Oliver incident. Child services finds out about Ryan's trouble at school and takes him away. Sandy and Kirsten do everything they can to get him back with an unlikely source to help them.

**AN: **Thank you to tcsportsmed7 for keeping on me to write this story. Hope you all like this chapter. Please R&R!

**Disclaimer: **See previous chapters.

**Chapter 9: Appointments**

Kirsten awoke on Monday morning and went to check to see how Ryan was feeling. She peered into his room and saw the bed empty. She ventured downstairs and found him in the kitchen. He was sitting at the counter slowly eating a bowl of cereal as he read out of a book.

"You're awake already." She smiled at him. "How are you feeling?"

"Better." He looked up at her. "I think you were right. It was just a 24-hour thing."

"You can always stay home today just in case."

"I've missed enough school as it is. I'm just now catching up with the work."

"Well, if you start to feel sick again, call me and I'll come pick you up."

"I'll keep that in mind." He closed his book. "So where's Sandy?"

"He had to go into the office early. He's going to be home late. So I'll take you to your doctor's appointment today."

"All right." He took his bowl to the sink. "I better get ready for school."

"See if you can get Seth out of bed." Kirsten called after him.

"Yeah right." He mumbled as he started upstairs.

Ryan was able to get Seth out of bed and they both made it downstairs at the same time. Kirsten and Seth had quick breakfasts and the three of them rushed around trying to get out the door on time. Summer arrived and Ryan climbed into the back alone as usual as Seth climbed into the front passenger seat.

"I can walk to school faster than this." Ryan said loudly as Seth and Summer had a mini-make out session.

They eventually pulled apart and Summer pulled out of the Cohen's driveway and drove them all to school. As soon as Summer's car came to a stop in the school parking lot, Ryan jumped out of the car and rushed to the front steps of the school where someone was waiting for him.

"He sure does spend a lot of time with Taylor Townsend." Summer said.

"He says they're just friends." Seth told her. "That she's helping him with everything."

"I don't know. The way they're looking at each other, I wouldn't be surprised if we catch them-"

"I don't need that visual." Seth said as they walked into the school.

* * *

><p>Ryan followed Taylor into the school as they went to their lockers. She rambled on about what she did the rest of the weekend.<p>

"So you weren't sick at all yesterday?" Ryan asked her.

"My stomach was a little upset, and I was a little nauseous. But other than that, I was fine."

"Then why was I so sick? I could barely keep anything down."

"Well, you did have a lot more to eat than me."

"My appetite is finally coming back now that I don't have to take so many pain killers."

"You're getting your stitches out this afternoon, aren't you?"

"Yeah." He told her as he grabbed the books he needed from his locker.

"So does that mean that you'll try out for baseball then?"

"I hope so." Luke came up to them, overhearing their conversation. "We need some new players on the team."

"You don't even know if I'm good." Ryan told him. "I haven't played since I was a kid."

"It has to be better than we were last year." Luke told him as the warning bell rang.

"I'd better get to class." Taylor told them. "I'll see you at lunch Ryan?"

"Sure." He watched her walk away towards her class and he followed Luke to their own class.

At lunch, Seth and summer decided to join Ryan and Luke at their table instead of listening to Marissa's pity party. They were surprised to see Taylor Townsend sitting across from Ryan as the three of them joked around.

"Hey. Mind if we join you guys?" Summer asked them.

"Not at all." Ryan told them and they sat down with them.

"So what are you talking about?" Seth asked.

"I'm trying to convince Chino to come to the batting cages tonight so he can practice a little."

"I'm not even sure if the doctor will give me the ok." Ryan told him.

"If he does, do you think you can get away?"

"I'm not sure. I'll have to ask Kirsten."

"She'll probably say yes." Seth told him. "They want you to try to get out of the house."

"I'll ask her." Ryan told them as he finished his lunch and walked with Taylor to Chemistry.

* * *

><p>After school let out, Ryan gathered the books he would need for his homework that night and walked out of the school. He spotted Kirsten already there waiting for him and went and climbed into the front of the range rover.<p>

"Ready to get those stitches out?" she asked him as they pulled away.

"Definitely." He sighed.

"So anything interesting happen in school?"

"Not really. But Luke wants me to meet him at the batting cages later if the doctor gives me the ok."

"I think that'll be all right." She smiled at him as they pulled into the hospital parking lot and found the outpatient parking.

Kirsten and Ryan slowly made their way into the hospital and found where the Cohen's family doctor's office was. Ryan sat in one of the chairs near the back as Kirsten went to check in with the receptionist and came back with a clipboard of paperwork to fill out.

"Ok. Name…address…phone number…birth date…any allergies?" Kirsten looked over at Ryan as she read off each question.

"None that I can recall." He mumbled.

"Ok. Insurance information." She took a card out of her purse and copied down the information.

"I'm on your insurance?" Ryan looked at her astonished.

"Of course you are. Why wouldn't you be?"

"I'm not-"

"You are our family." Kirsten told him firmly, knowing what he was about to say. "In all the ways that count. Got it?"

"Got it." He repeated as the door to the back rooms opened and a nurse called his name.

They both stood up and made their way to the door and slowly followed a nurse to an exam room. Ryan sat on the exam table as Kirsten sat in a nearby chair while they waited for the doctor.

"I'm Dr. Jackson. Sorry about the wait." The door opened and a man a little older than Sandy came in and smiled at them. "Kirsten, good to see you."

"Dr. Jackson." She smiled at him.

"And you must be Ryan." He turned to him. "Nice to finally meet you."

"Hi." He said softly.

"I see you've had a rough couple of weeks." He looked through the chart in his hands. "I'm sure you're ready to get those stitches out."

"Yes." He sighed as he held up his wrist. "And to get this thing off."

"One thing at a time, young man." He smiled at him.

"He's a little anxious because baseball tryouts are soon. One of his friends wants him to tryout." Kirsten told him.

"I'll see what I can do." Dr. Jackson went around behind Ryan to examine his head where the stitches were put in. "It looks like it's healed nicely."

"Would you like me to leave for this?" Kirsten looked at Ryan.

"No. Please stay." He told her.

It only took a few minutes for the doctor to remove the stitches from Ryan's head. Kirsten tried not to notice how relaxed Ryan seemed to be about the whole thing. She knew he'd ended up in the emergency room a number of times when he still lived with Dawn, but she didn't know how bad it really was. Now she thought she was starting to understand.

Dr. Jackson removed the ace bandage from his wrist an examined it before he had Ryan hold his arm straight out in front of him and rotate his wrist each way. Ryan was happy not to feel any more pain.

"Everything looks good." He wrote in his chart. "Now is there anything else I can do for you today?"

"No." Ryan started off the exam table.

"Yes." Kirsten stopped him. "Yesterday, Ryan was sick all day."

"I'm fine." Ryan insisted. "I just ate too much."

"Just humor me."

"I have lots of experience dealing with Kirsten through the years." Dr. Jackson told him. "Take it from me, kid. It's better to just do what she says."

"Fine." Ryan sighed as the doctor started to examine him again.

* * *

><p>Ryan gripped the bat tightly as he took his stance inside the metal cage. Luke was standing behind the fence as he leaned on a bench and observed. Ryan pressed the button again and prepared for the first ball to come flying out of the machine. The first ball flew out towards him, and with a crack of the bat Ryan sent it sailing against the back fence.<p>

"Damn, Chino." Luke commented. "You haven't missed one yet. How did you get so good?"

"It's called visualization therapy." Ryan slammed another ball. "I just picture someone I really hate."

"Who do you visualize as the ball?"

"It used to be my parents and brother." He took another swing.

"And now?"

"Now I visualize the guards at that facility." He swung with all his might. "Or the so-called therapists they made me talk to."

"Dude, your phone is ringing."

"One more." Ryan took one last final swing before he turned off the ball machine and walked out of the cage to his phone. "It's Seth."

"Time to go home?" Luke asked.

"Seth?" Ryan clicked on his phone.

"Ryan, can you pick me up at Summer's? I called mom and she said she let you take the rover to the batting cages."

"Why can't Summer drop you off like she usually does?"

"She has to meet her dad for dinner at the club."

"All right. I'm on my way." He hung up the phone and turned to Luke.

"You have to go?"

"I need to pick up Seth from Summer's. Besides, Kirsten told me to be home soon anyway."

"Maybe we can do this again later on this week."

"I'll check with Sandy and Kirsten."

* * *

><p>Sandy arrived home with some take out and found Kirsten in the kitchen getting some plates out of the cupboard.<p>

"Hey." He greeted her. "Where are the boys?"

"Seth is at Summer's as usual. And I let Ryan have the car so he could meet Luke at the batting cages."

"So his check up went well then?"

"He's perfectly fine." She assured him. "They should be getting home soon, though."

Just then, they heard the door open and arguing coming from down the hall as the door closed. They smiled as Seth and Ryan came into them and grabbed some food and went to the table.

"So how were the batting cages?" Kirsten asked Ryan.

"Fine." He mumbled as he slowly ate. "Luke wants to meet up again sometime this week for some more practice time."

"I think that will be ok." Kirsten told him.

"There's something you should know, Ryan." Sandy looked at him across the table. "Dr. Freedman called me today."

"Why?" Ryan's head shot up and looked at both Kirsten and Sandy.

"He suggested that we do a family therapy session once a month."

"You mean-tomorrow?"

"No. Not until next week."

"Why do we have to have a group therapy session?"

"He wants us to work out all our issues as a family."

"What issues do I have?" Seth spoke up for the first time since they arrived home.

"We all have communication issues." Kirsten told him. "And we will all do this as a family."

"So now you all of a sudden feel like airing our dirty laundry to a complete stranger?" Ryan demanded.

"Ok, whoa." Sandy tried to calm Ryan down from his sudden angry outburst. "Where'd all the anger come from?"

"Maybe I don't want you to know what's going on with me. Am I not allowed to have any privacy now?"

"Of course you can." Kirsten told him. "But I think we all have some things to work on. Dr. Freedman thinks it's a good idea."

"Since when is he an expert on me? We've only had one session."

"He just wants to see how we talk to each other. How we listen-"

"I can already answer that." Ryan interrupted. "We don't. Not well anyway."

"And we hope to fix that."

"Like it's so easy." Ryan mumbled as he pushed his plate away and got up from the table. "I'm not hungry and I have homework."

The three of them sat quietly at the table as they listened to Ryan storm up the stairs and slam his door behind him. Seth glanced at his parents and they shrugged.

"He obviously has a lot more issues to deal with than we thought." Sandy sighed.

"Or maybe he's afraid that the doctor will reveal to you guys what he tells him in his private sessions." Seth said, surprising them.

"I think he might be right." Kirsten said.

"You really think that's what it is?" Sandy looked at them both.

"It's so obvious to those of us that pay attention." Seth told him.

* * *

><p>Ryan stormed into his room and slammed the door behind him, knowing full well that they would hear it all the way downstairs. He shoved his desk chair under the door knob in case one of them tried to come into his room, and then started pacing furiously around the room. After he was able to calm himself down a little, he picked up his cell phone and dialed a number.<p>

"Taylor? It's Ryan."

"Ryan? What's the matter?"

"I really need someone to talk to; other than the Cohen's, I mean."

"I'm free." She assured him. "My mom's at some meeting and she won't be back for a few hours at least."

"I'm on my way." He quickly put on his jacket and opened the window and shimmied his way down the side of the house and disappeared into the night.

**AN: **So what'd you all think? The next chapter will deal with long talks from Sandy and Kirsten, and the therapist. And maybe Caleb too. I'm not sure yet, though. Please R&R!


	10. Ch 10: Talking

**Summary: **After the Oliver incident. Child services finds out about Ryan's trouble at school and takes him away. Sandy and Kirsten do everything they can to get him back with an unlikely source to help them.

**AN: **Another chapter for you guys within a week of my last update. Thank you to everyone for the positive feedback I've been getting from this story. Please R&R!

**AN: **On a side note, I've been thinking about starting another OC story. It'll be about the Cohen's helping Ryan adjust to life in Newport. It'll be first season around when Ryan's mom left him. It'll having bonding moments with all the Cohen's, but I want it to be mostly Ryan/Kirsten bonding. I've been torn between two titles,** Ryan Adjusting**, and** Parenting Ryan**. They both seem a little lame to me, but if any of you have any ideas let me know.

_ON WITH THE STORY..._

**Chapter 10: Talking**

Ryan edged around the bushes that lined the driveway leading up to Taylor's house. He rang the doorbell and a few moments later, Taylor opened the door and smiled at him.

"Come on in." she closed the door behind him. "I'll make us some tea. It usually calms me down."

"Thank you." He sat at her kitchen counter and watched as she put a kettle of water on the stove to heat up.

"So what's going on? I thought you would have a good day. Did you go to the batting cages with Luke?"

"My day was fine until I got home. Sandy informed me that my therapist wants to have monthly group sessions with all of us."

"And you don't want to?" he shook his head. "Can I ask why?"

"He said in our first session that he wouldn't tell the Cohen's about what I say in the sessions, but how am I to know that he's telling the truth."

"Ryan, he can't say anything. It's part of the whole doctor-patient confidentiality thing. If he says anything, he can lose his job."

"I have a problem with trusting people, as you've probably already figured out."

"You were able to trust the Cohen's, weren't you?"

"A lot of good that did me." He mumbled. "Besides, I didn't trust them completely. I never let my guard down completely."

"Maybe that's one of the things that the doctor can help you work on as well."

"Maybe."

"The Cohen's don't know that you're here, do they?"

"I kind of snuck out."

"You should probably call them. They're probably worried about you."

"Not yet." He sighed as the kettle started to whistle.

"Ok. A few more minutes." Taylor brought their mugs of tea over. "So do you want to talk about anything else?"

"Not right now." He looked at her. "I'm sorry I'm always unloading on you."

"I told you that's what I'm here for." She assured him. "I don't mind listening and trying to help you."

"Well, what about you?" he looked at her. "Do you want to talk about anything? Like your tyrannical mother or anything?"

"She's actually mellow right now." She smiled at him.

Ryan smiled back at Taylor as they drank their tea. He felt bad about worrying the Cohen's, but he didn't want to deal with them right now. Right now, he wanted to escape what he was trying to deal with and pretend that he was normal.

* * *

><p>Dinner finished and Sandy went upstairs to try to talk to Ryan; to see if he had calmed down any. As soon as they finished eating, Kirsten started working on some new project for work and Seth called Summer to see how her dinner with her father had gone.<p>

Sandy reached Ryan's door, and knocked softly on the door. He waited a few moments, and after getting no answer, knocked again.

"Ryan, I know you're upset. But we need to talk." All he heard from inside the room was silence. "Ryan, could you please open the door so we can talk?"

"What's going on?" Kirsten came from their bedroom after hearing all the noise.

"Ryan won't answer me." He told her.

"Ryan, please let us in." Kirsten knocked loudly on the door. "Ok. We're coming in."

She tried to turn the doorknob, but it wouldn't budge. She tried a little harder, and then realized that there was something blocking the door.

"Ryan, open the door." Kirsten pleaded. "Please let us in."

"What's going on?" Seth came from his room after hearing all the noise and spotted them there.

"Ryan's not opening his door." Sandy told him.

"I think there's something in front of the door." Kirsten said.

"Watch out," Sandy pushed the both of them behind him and kicked the door open.

They all filed into his room and saw the room empty. His books from school were spread over the bed and the window was wide open.

"There's no way-" Sandy went to the window and peered down to the ground below. "Well, he's not lying unconscious in the yard, so he must've run off somewhere."

"Do you think he ran away?" Kirsten immediately panicked.

"His duffle bag and hoodie are still here," Seth looked in his closet. "So he probably just went somewhere so he could cool down."

"Seth, start calling around." Sandy ordered. "See if anyone has seen or heard from him."

"On it." He left the room as he took out his cell phone.

"I didn't realize he was that upset." Kirsten sighed.

"None of us did." Sandy went to her. "Don't worry. He'll come back."

"Summer hasn't heard from him." Seth came back in to them. "And Luke hasn't seen him since they left the batting cages."

"Where could he be?" Kirsten demanded.

"I hate to say it," Sandy looked at them. "What about Marissa?"

"He ignores her at school." Seth told him. "Why would he go to her with a problem? Besides, she'd probably turn it around so that it's all about her."

"What about Senora Townsend?" They all turned as they heard a thick Spanish accent and saw Rosa.

"Taylor Townsend?" Sandy asked her.

"He says she's the only one he feels he can talk to." Rosa notices their looks. "He talks to me in the mornings before school."

"He has been spending a lot of time with her." Kirsten said. "I think he's most likely with her."

"One problem." Seth told them. "None of us have Taylor's number."

"I have Veronica's. With her being on the school board and all." Kirsten started to look through her phone's memory as it started to ring and she clicked it on. "Hello?"

"Mrs. Cohen?"

"Yes. Who is this?"

"This is Taylor Townsend."

"Taylor." She glanced at the other three in the room. "Is he there with you? Is he ok?"

"He's fine. He just needed to talk to someone. He was really upset when he got here. But he's a lot calmer than he was when he arrived."

"Can you put him on?"

"Sure. Hold on a minute." There was some background noise and Kirsten heard another voice on the line.

"Kirsten?"

"Ryan." She sighed in relief. "You scared us. We're standing in your empty room right now."

"I'm sorry I worried you." He said softly. "I just needed to get out of the house for awhile."

"I understand. Are you coming home now? We can come and get you."

"No. It's all right. Taylor said she'd bring me home. I should be there in about ten minutes."

"Ok. We'll see you in a few." She hung up and looked at the other three that were in the room. "He's on his way. Taylor is bringing him home."

"Is he ok?" Seth asked.

"He's fine. He said he just needed to get away."

"He could've at least told us he was leaving." Sandy said.

"Sandy, don't." Kirsten warned him. "He's coming home. Don't get mad at him about that when we have bigger problems to deal with. Pick your battles, honey."

"You're right." Sandy sighed. "Let's go down and wait for him. We're in for a long talk when he gets back."

"Is this a family talk?" Seth asked them. "Or is it a strictly parent talk?"

"You're excused from it, Seth." Sandy told him. "Ryan will tell you about it if he wants to."

* * *

><p>Ryan sat in the passenger side of Taylor's thunderbird as she drove him back home. She slowed down as she approached his house and drove up the sloped driveway. She turned the engine off and glanced at Ryan, who had been silent since his talk with Kirsten on the phone.<p>

Ryan had been in the bathroom when she had taken his cell phone and searched through the memory for the Cohen's phone number. He had quietly come up behind her as she talked on the phone with Kirsten. He had reluctantly taken the phone from her and immediately felt guilty after hearing the worry in Kirsten's voice.

"Ready to go in?" she asked him.

"Ready to face the firing squad." He mumbled as he opened the car door.

"I'll walk you in." she offered and got out of the car and caught up to him as he reached the front door.

Before Ryan could get his hand on the doorknob, it swung open suddenly and he was enveloped in a bone-crushing hug.

"Don't you ever do that to me-us- again!" Kirsten released him and looked him in the eyes. "Do you realize how much you scared us?"

"I'm sorry." He told her softly.

"You're back now." Sandy appeared behind them. "Let's go inside. The three of us need to talk."

"I'll see you tomorrow, Ryan." Taylor told him.

"Thank you." He told her before the door closed behind him and she went back to her car.

* * *

><p>Ryan slowly walked into the kitchen as Sandy and Kirsten followed behind him. He stopped and looked from the stools at the counter-the punishment stool- to the dinner table; he glanced back at them asking a silent question.<p>

"This is more of a table discussion." Sandy assured him.

They all sat down at the table with Kirsten sitting next to Ryan and Sandy sitting across from them. Ryan couldn't look at them; he just kept staring down at his hands as he waited for one of them to start. Finally, he couldn't stand the silence anymore.

"I'm sorry I left." He said softly.

"It's ok. We understand." Kirsten touched his arm. "It was a stressful dinner. You're not in trouble. This time."

"What do you mean this time?" he finally looked up at them.

"It's ok if you feel like you need to get out of here to blow off some steam if you have to." Sandy told him. "As long as we know where you're going, who you're with, and what you'll be doing."

"What if I just want to take a walk?"

"Then you need to have your cell phone with you and make sure it's on."

"Agreed." Ryan finally relented.

"Now that that's settled," Kirsten looked at Ryan. "Would you like to tell us why you got so upset at dinner tonight?"

"No." he shook his head.

"Well, Seth came up with a theory." Sandy looked at him. "He thinks that you think that the doctor will tell us what you've been talking about in your sessions."

"Is there any truth to that?" Kirsten asked.

"Maybe." He said softly.

"That won't happen." She assured him. "There is a doctor-patient confidentiality agreement. If he says anything to anyone other than you without your permission, he'll get fired."

"That's what Taylor told me."

"Well, she's right." Sandy told him.

They were all quiet for awhile as they all thought back to earlier in the day. Kirsten could see the troubled look on Ryan's face and could see that he wanted to say something, but wouldn't. So she decided to give him a little nudge.

"Is there anything you'd like to talk to us about right now?" she glanced at Sandy, who also noticed the look on Ryan's face.

"No." he said softly as he started to trace the design on the wood table with his index finger. "Nothing."

"I promise we won't get mad." Sandy assured him. "We'll talk about it and try to fix it if we can."

"There is one thing." Ryan eventually spoke up.

"What is it?"

"Why haven't you mentioned anything about the adoption since I got out of that facility?" he looked at them both and they exchanged shocked looks.

* * *

><p>Of all the things he expected to come out of Ryan's mouth, he wasn't expecting that. He could see the hurt look in his eyes and realized what he must be thinking: that they didn't want to adopt him anymore. He felt extremely bad for making him feel that way.<p>

"We didn't want to tell you anything until there was some progress." Sandy told him.

"And is there any progress?" he looked at them both. "When Rachel came to see me in that place, she said she would try to get them to sign over their rights."

"Stay here. I'll be right back." Sandy got up and left the kitchen and returned a few moments later with his brief case. "Take a look at this."

"What is this?" Ryan glanced at the legal-looking documents that Sandy had handed him.

"Rachel returned from Fresno with those documents this afternoon." Sandy explained. "She spent the day at the prison with your father. She explained the situation and convinced him that it would be in your best interest to sign over all his parental rights."

"And he did?" Ryan saw the signature at the bottom. "Just like that? Why would he do that after not doing anything for me my entire life?"

"Because Rachel convinced him that if we had to take it to trial, he'd get his rights taken away anyway."

"So what does this mean?"

"It means that we're one step closer to you becoming a legal member of this family." Kirsten spoke up. "Which is what we all want."

"So what about my mom?" Ryan looked at them. "Have you been able to track her down?"

"No, we haven't." Sandy told him. "I called one of my PI friends to try to track her down."

"And if you do, what happens?"

"We'll try to get her to sign over her rights as well."

"If she tries to fight it?"

"We'll set up a court date. But with her history, I'm sure the judge will agree to terminate her rights."

"And if you can't find her?"

"Then I can get a judge to hear why her rights should be terminated, and he'll most likely terminate them anyway."

"So why go through all the trouble of tracking her down if you're going to be able to terminate her rights either way?"

"Because every mother deserves the right to defend herself," Kirsten spoke up, seeing that Sandy didn't know what to tell him. "No matter what the circumstances."

"Do you have any questions about anything you just heard?" Sandy looked at Ryan.

"No questions, but I do have a request." He told them.

"What is it?"

"Will you keep me informed about everything as you receive it? I mean, it is about my life. It's not fair that you try to keep it from me."

"We weren't trying to keep it from you. We didn't want to tell you anything until we got both your parents to sign." Sandy told him. "But yes, we will keep you informed of everything as we hear it."

"Thank you." He said softly.

"It's been a long night for all of us." Kirsten told them. "You have school and therapy tomorrow. You should get some sleep."

"Ok." Ryan got up from the table. "Again, I'm sorry for worrying you."

"It's all right." They smiled at him. "Good night."

"Good night." He slowly walked up the stairs and Sandy and Kirsten exchanged a grateful look.

"It's a start, I think." Sandy told her. "For him to start opening up to us."

* * *

><p>Ryan got to the top of the stairs as he spotted Seth; he had obviously overheard the entire conversation downstairs. He should've known that he had been listening to his talk with Sandy and Kirsten.<p>

"Dude-" Seth started to say.

"Not in the mood, Seth." He pushed past him. "I'm all talked out for tonight."

"Tomorrow then?"

"Maybe. I need to rest up to prepare for my therapy session tomorrow."

"Sure. Good night, man."

"Night." Ryan went into his room and cleaned everything off his bed before changing into some sweats and a t-shirt and climbing into bed for the night.

**AN: **So what'd you all think? I think this is one of my longest chapters yet. So I don't know a thing about California adoption laws. If anyone knows of any good websites or anything, please let me know. Otherwise, I'm just going to wing it in this story and hope that no one makes a big deal out of it. So please R&R!


	11. Ch 11: A Little Reveal

**Summary: **After the Oliver incident. Child services finds out about Ryan's trouble at school and takes him away. Sandy and Kirsten do everything they can to get him back with an unlikely source to help them.

**AN: **I know it's been a few weeks since I last posted, but things were really hectic with the holidays. Hope everyone had a good Christmas for those who celebrate it. Anyway, please review!

**To tcsportsmed7: **I explained a little bit about why Ryan's appetite in this chapter. It's not what you thought it would be, but hopefully you're happy with this. And thank you for being such a loyal follower and reviewer of this story.

**Disclaimer: **See earlier chapters.

**Chapter 11: A Little Reveal**

Tuesday morning was a late start for everyone. Sandy and Kirsten both slept through their alarms and had to force both boys out of bed. Seth made it down to the kitchen and saw Kirsten pouring another cup of coffee for herself. She offered him some and he took the mug and sat at the counter.

"Is Ryan still sleeping?" he looked at her.

"He was up earlier." She told him. "Rosa said he had his breakfast earlier."

"So he's avoiding us." He sighed.

"I don't think he got much sleep last night."

"You know, I really want to be there for him." He told her.

"I know. We all do." She sat down beside him.

"But I really have no idea what to say to him."

"You just need to be there for him. We keep telling him we're here for him, but don't push him too hard. Eventually he'll want to open up to us."

"Ryan? Open up?"

"It'll take time, of course. A lot of time probably. But we need to let him know that we'll all be here for him."

* * *

><p>Sandy cautiously opened Ryan's door as he heard him talking in a low voice. He stepped into the room and saw him on his cell phone. Ryan saw him standing there and quickly told the person on the other end good-bye.<p>

"Sorry." He looked back at him. "I was asking Taylor if she wouldn't mind taking me to school. If it's ok with you guys, I mean."

"That's fine." Sandy assured him. "Why don't you want to continue to get rides from Summer?"

"I don't like being the third wheel. And those two have to make out for at least five minutes before we even leave the driveway."

"I can understand that." He sat down beside him on the bed. "So how are you doing today?"

"I'm fine. Really." He told him. "And I don't feel like talking with you about it anymore. I already have to talk about it after school with Dr. Freedman."

"Ok. No more talking." He assured him. "But just know that if you ever need to talk, we're all here for you ok?"

"I know. Thank you."

"Not a problem." Sandy glanced down at his watch. "I need to get going. I'll pick you up at 3:30."

"Got it." Ryan watched him leave his room and gathered all his books for school and made his way back downstairs.

Ryan waved to Summer as he walked past her car to Taylor's car who had just pulled up the driveway as well. Ryan got into the passenger seat as Seth came out of the house and got into Summer's car.

"And they're off…" Ryan mumbled as he saw Seth and Summer start to make out as Taylor pulled out of the driveway. "That's one of the reasons why I called you to pick me up. Thank you, by the way."

"Not a problem." She smiled at him. "So how are you today?"

"We talked once I walked through the door." He told her. "I don't think I got much sleep last night. And I have more talking to do this afternoon."

"It'll be good for you in the long run." She told him.

"I know you're probably right." He sighed as they pulled up to the school and they made their way inside.

* * *

><p>The school day seemed to go by in a blur for Ryan, and sooner than he wanted to he was waiting outside for Sandy to pick him up for his therapist session. The BMW pulled into the school parking lot and Ryan got into the front passenger seat without saying a word.<p>

"How was school?" Sandy asked him.

"Fine." He mumbled.

"You can't offer up anything else?"

"Nope."

"Ok." The rest of the car ride was silent with Ryan in full on brooding mood and Sandy drumming his fingers on the steering wheel until they pulled up to the doctor's office.

Ryan silently walked into the therapist's office and sat in the same chair as last time. Dr. Freedman came in and smiled at him.

"Good afternoon, Ryan." He sat across from him.

"The Cohen's called you about last night, didn't they?" Ryan stared at him.

"Sandy called this afternoon and informed me what all went on last night."

"Is this where you lecture me?"

"No. I figured that you talked about it much longer than you wanted to last night."

"You got that right." Ryan mumbled.

"So I decided we can talk about it at a later date. I actually wanted you to talk about the Cohen's today."

"We already did that my last session."

"I want to go more in depth about your relationship with each of them." He explained to him. "Why don't we start with Sandy?"

So Ryan spent the entire session talking about his relationship with Sandy; how they met, what he felt for him then and now, and any issues he may have with him. Ryan eventually walked out of the therapist's office and Sandy followed him out to the parking lot after receiving an encouraging nod from Dr. Freedman.

"So how'd it go?" Sandy asked him.

"Exhausting." Ryan mumbled. "I want to go home and sleep."

"I don't think you'll be able to do that right away."

"Why?"

"Kirsten didn't want me to tell you this until after your session in case you tried to plan your escape."

"What's going on, Sandy?"

"Caleb's at the house right now for the first of your weekly dinners with him." He told him.

"This day just keeps getting worse and worse." Ryan mumbled.

"We'll suffer through it together." They reached the house and noticed Caleb's shiny car parked right beside the range rover. "Let's get this over and done with."

Ryan climbed out of the car and slowly followed Sandy into the house. He heard Sandy and Kirsten greet each other in the kitchen and Caleb's gruff reply. He heard video games from the den and knew that Seth must be home already. He started into the kitchen, but stopped in his tracks when he smelt the aroma that was making his stomach churn.

"Hey, Ryan." Kirsten smiled at him. "How was your day?"

"It was tolerable up until a few moments ago." He mumbled as he spotted the take-out containers. "Is that fish?"

"Yeah."

"Ryan," Caleb came from setting the table.

"Mr. Nichol," he went to go around him. "I'm going to talk to Seth."

"And he couldn't even last five minutes in the same room with me." Caleb looked at Kirsten and Sandy. "You really think we can last through an entire meal at the same table?"

"Baby steps, dad." Kirsten told him as she set everything out on the table.

"Come and get it, guys." Sandy called and he heard the TV turn off and a few moments later, Seth and Ryan came in and sat at the table.

"Help yourself, Ryan." Kirsten told him as she noticed that all he took was a salad. "We have plenty."

"I don't like fish." He told her softly.

"Since when?"

"Since for awhile now. I guess I never told you." He mumbled as he started to eat. "I'll take seconds of salad."

"So how's school going, Ryan?" Caleb asked after a stern look from Kirsten.

"Fine." He mumbled.

"And your therapy sessions?"

"Fine."

"And you're still trying out for baseball?"

"Yep."

"So who was that girl I saw you with at the Valentine's Day Dance?"

"Taylor Townsend. She's my chemistry lab partner."

"Anything going on with you two?"

"No." he sighed. "Can I be excused yet?"

"Me, too?" Seth looked at his parents, thinking he could get Ryan to talk to him without the parental units around.

"You didn't even eat half of what's on your plate." Kirsten told them both.

"We're all staying here at the table until everyone is done." Sandy told them. "Now offer up some kind of way to contribute to the conversation, both of you."

"Like what?" Ryan mumbled.

"Think of something."

"Ryan, you're not eating." Kirsten observed.

"I lost my appetite." He said.

"You need to eat some more. You said you would eat seconds."

"I don't want to be here." He mumbled as he took a big mouthful of salad.

"None of us do really." Sandy told him.

"Sandy," Kirsten shot him a look.

"Be honest, honey. This is a forced dinner."

"This one maybe. But Ryan and my father need to get to know each other."

"Neither one of them is comfortable here."

"Where is Ryan?" Caleb asked suddenly, and they noticed his chair empty.

"I think he's in the bathroom." Seth told them. "He was looking a little green while you were all arguing."

"Do you think he's sick again?" Sandy asked.

"That's probably why he only wanted a salad." Kirsten sighed. "I'll go check on him."

Kirsten ascended the stairs and started to go into Ryan's room. The room looked to be unoccupied, but she heard a noise coming from the bathroom that sounded like someone gagging. She knocked briefly before slowly opening the door and saw Ryan bent over the toilet as green bile escaped from his stomach.

"Ryan," she knelt beside him as he slowly sat up and looked over at her.

"Sorry." He told her softly.

"Don't apologize for getting sick."

"I don't think I'm sick. Not really." He attempted to stand up.

"Here. Let me help you." She helped him stand up and waited until his legs stabilized before she walked him out of the bathroom and helped him to sit on his bed. "Better?"

"Yeah."

"So if you're not sick, what happened?"

"It was the fish. I really don't like fish."

"When did you start not liking fish?" Kirsten had a feeling she knew what the answer was, but wanted to hear it from Ryan.

"Since I was in that place." He said softly and Kirsten knew he was referring to the facility.

"Would you like to elaborate for me?"

"The entire place reeked of rotten fish. I felt sick to my stomach the moment I stepped inside."

"But we've had fish a few times since you got out of that place. What was so different this time?"

"Mr. Nichol-he smelled like cigars."

"Yes, he smokes them occasionally."

"One of the guards-he smelled like cigars all the time-he was the one that was in charge of 'disciplining' everyone. Tonight kind of brought a few things back for me."

"Ok. You just rest." She got off the bed and he slowly lay back. "I'll go find something to help settle your stomach."

"Ok." He said softly as he watched her leave the room.

* * *

><p>Sandy looked up as he heard someone descend the stairs. Seth and Caleb looked back as well when Kirsten rushed into the room.<p>

"I need to borrow someone's laptop." She stated. "Is there one down here?"

"Mine is in my office." Sandy told her and she rushed out again and returned with it.

"What's going on?" Caleb asked as they all got up from the table.

"I need to look something up." She told them as she set the laptop on the counter and opened up the search engine.

"What are you looking up?" Sandy asked her.

"I need to know what the symptoms are for Post Traumatic Stress Disorder."

"Why do you need to look that up?"

"I think Ryan might have it."

"You think Ryan has PTSD?" Seth asked.

"Why would you think that?" Sandy asked.

"He told me he doesn't like fish because the facility smelled like rotten fish the whole time he was there. And he could smell the cigars on you, dad. He said one of the guards smelled like that; the guard that was in charge of discipline."

"Oh." They all looked at each other as Kirsten typed on the computer.

"Here it is. Causes of PTSD include assault, abuse, prison stay…"

"Ok. There is a chance that he could have it." Sandy said.

"Symptoms to look for; reliving the event that disrupts day-to-day activity, flashback events, repeated memories, repeated nightmares, avoidance, feeling detached, lack of interest in normal activities, avoiding other people or places, difficulty concentrating, irritability, trouble sleeping…"

"Ok. It's definitely something we should look into." Sandy said. "I'll call Dr. Freedman tomorrow."

"Where is he now?" Caleb asked.

"He's up in his room." Kirsten closed the laptop. "I told him I'd bring him something for his stomach."

"Do you think this was why he was sick last weekend?" Seth asked.

"Maybe. We'll look into it." Kirsten found what she was looking for and started back upstairs.

Kirsten slowly walked into Ryan's room and saw that he was lying with his back facing the door. She went around to the other side of the bed so that she was facing him and saw his eyes half-closed.

"Ryan?" she knelt down in front of him. "Are you still awake?"

"Yeah." He said softly as he looked at her. "Tired."

"I brought you some ginger ale and Dramamine for your stomach."

"I'm feeling better." He told her.

"Take some anyway. Just in case."

"Ok." He sat up a little and took the Dramamine and sipped some of the ginger ale before lying back down and drifting off to sleep.

Kirsten stayed with him for a few minutes after he fell asleep. She took his hand as she brushed his unruly bangs out of his eyes. She noticed Sandy standing in the door motioning for her to join him in the hall. She nodded and stood up as she draped a blanket over Ryan's sleeping form and pressed a kiss to his forehead.

"What's going on?" she asked Sandy once she had closed Ryan's door behind her.

"I called Dr. Jackson and told him what we thought. He wants us to bring him in tomorrow afternoon." He told her. "I also called Dr. Freedman. He'll meet us at Dr. Jackson's tomorrow."

"Both of them at the same time?" she asked. "He hates doctors as it is. He's going to feel overwhelmed."

"But if it'll help him-"

"We have to do it. I know." She sighed. "He's already been through so much in his life. How much more will he have to endure?"

"I don't know." He held her as they both walked to their bedroom to discuss it further.

**AN: **So what'd you all think? I'm not really sure about it myself. But I wanted to post a new chapter for you guys. Anyway, please review!


	12. Ch 12: Doctors Appointments

**Summary: **After the Oliver incident. Child services finds out about Ryan's trouble at school and takes him away. Sandy and Kirsten do everything they can to get him back with an unlikely source to help them.

**AN: **Another chapter for you guys. Hope you like how this came out for me. Please R&R!

**Disclaimer: **See earlier chapters.

**Chapter 12: Doctors Appointments**

Ryan awoke on Wednesday morning and felt like he'd slept for a few days. He turned over to look at his alarm clock and saw that it was almost eleven. He slowly climbed out of bed and silently walked downstairs, thinking that maybe either Sandy or Kirsten were home.

"Hey, Ryan." Kirsten looked up from her work at the table as she heard him come into the kitchen. "Good morning."

"What's going on?" he asked her.

"We're working on a new development." She told him. "I'm working from home today."

"No. I mean its 11 o'clock on a Wednesday morning. Why didn't my alarm go off and why didn't you guys wake me up?"

"Sandy and I thought you needed a day." She stopped what she was doing and got up from the table. "Come here and sit. I need to talk to you about something."

"Ok." He sat at the counter with her as he slowly ate a bowl of dry cereal.

"Sandy called Dr. Jackson last night and scheduled an appointment for you this afternoon." She told him.

"Why?" he looked at her.

"There is a chance that you have Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. We want to see if you do because the faster we know the faster we can help you through all this."

"You think I have PTSD?" Ryan looked at her, abandoning his cereal.

"We're not sure. We want to know for sure so we can help you."

"So I'm going to be put on anti-depressants?"

"We're not sure yet. First, we find out if you have PTSD. Then we'll go from there."

"I don't want to go on them if it comes to that. I don't want to become a zombie."

"We're not sure of anything yet. But we'll discuss everything and decide as a family whether or not it will be in your best interest if we put you on medication, all right?"

"Ok."

"Now why don't you finish your cereal and you can go and watch some TV before Sandy comes to pick us up for your appointment."

"Ok." Ryan went back to his bowl of cereal as Kirsten went back to working at the table.

* * *

><p>Sandy arrived at the house a little after one o'clock in the afternoon. He walked inside and found Kirsten looking through some contracts for work. She looked up as he came into the kitchen and smiled at him as he went to her and greeted her with a kiss.<p>

"How was your day?" he asked her.

"Very quiet." She sighed.

"Where's Ryan?"

"He's in the den watching TV."

"Did you talk to him about the appointment?"

"I told him that we were taking him to the doctor's and what we suspected."

"And what was his reaction?"

"He told me that he doesn't want to go on anti-depressants."

"We don't know if he'll be put on them."

"I know, but he was very adamant that he not be put on them."

"His appointment is at two. I'll talk to him for a little bit before we leave."

"Good luck." She told him. "He's barely said a thing to me since our conversation this morning."

Sandy walked into the den and spotted Ryan lying stretched across the couch as the TV played some kind of special. Sandy went to him and saw his eyes open, but he didn't seem to be paying any attention to what was on TV.

"Hey, kid." He sat down in the chair across from the couch.

"Hey," he looked up at him. "Is it time to go?"

"Not yet. I wanted to talk to you for a minute."

"You want to ask me about last night, don't you?" he slowly sat up.

"No. I mean, I'd like to talk to you if you want to. But only if you're comfortable with that."

"Then what do you want to talk about?"

"It's just-we don't talk like we used to."

"I've never been comfortable sharing my feelings, you know that."

"I don't just mean that. We used to talk all the time; you would tell me about school and other things."

"I don't have much to say right now."

"I know." Sandy sighed. "I just feel like if I had been paying more attention to both you and Seth, I would've seen this whole thing coming."

"You mean my possible PTSD? How could you have known? I hate to admit that I need any help at all. I'm still getting used to this family who is overbearing with all their helpfulness."

"Ok. Point taken."

"Ryan," Kirsten came in to them. "We got to go if we're going to make your appointment. Hurry up and get dressed."

"Right." He got off the couch and went upstairs.

They all met in the foyer ten minutes later and they went outside and got into the range rover. The entire ride to the doctor's office was quiet. Ryan silently followed Sandy and Kirsten inside and they were immediately shown into a private exam room. The door opened after awhile and Dr. Jackson came in followed by Dr. Freedman.

"Hello everyone." Dr. Jackson greeted them all. "How are you doing Ryan?"

"Fine." He said softly.

"Sandy, Kirsten, if you don't mind stepping out of the room we can start doing some tests."

"Will you be ok in here without us?" Kirsten looked at Ryan.

"I'll be ok." He assured them.

"We'll be right outside, ok kid?" Sandy told him and he nodded.

"Ok, Ryan." Dr. Jackson started. "First I would like to take some blood."

"Why? I thought it was just a physical exam." He looked at him.

"We run a blood test when there's a possibility of PTSD to rule out other illnesses that are similar."

"All right." Ryan pushed up his sleeve, suddenly wishing that he had asked Kirsten to stay.

He turned away as Dr. Jackson got out a needle and some vials that would hold his blood in a few minutes. He felt a sharp pinch and a little bit later Dr. Jackson announced that he was finished.

"Ok. I'm going to take this down to the lab. I'll be back in a minute." Dr. Jackson left the room and Ryan was left alone with Dr. Freedman.

"So we won't talk about what led to this, but I would like to know what happened at dinner last night."

"Didn't Sandy call you and tell you about it?"

"Yes, he did. But I would like to hear it in your words."

"I was just feeling a little overwhelmed." Ryan finally admitted.

"Why were you overwhelmed?"

"Because I was at this stupid dinner with Caleb who was only there because Sandy and Kirsten made him agree to it when he got me out of that place. I wasn't hungry and didn't want to be there so I started an argument that would distract everyone so I could slip out of the room."

"And there were a couple things that brought back some things for you?"

"Yes. I hate the smell of fish and cigars, all right? It makes me think of that place, and I don't want to think about it anymore."

"Ok." Dr. Jackson came back in. "The lab should have your results back in a few minutes. So let's get this exam started."

Ryan tried to sit patiently as Dr. Jackson not only did a physical exam, but also a mental health exam. When he was done, Dr. Jackson made some notes in his chart.

"Now Sandy and Kirsten said that you don't want to be put on antidepressants if it comes to that. Would you like to tell me why?"

"If you talked to them, then you already know why." Ryan mumbled.

"Yes, I do." Dr. Jackson sighed as Dr. Freedman slipped out of the room to find Sandy and Kirsten. "What makes you think that you would turn into a zombie?"

"You have that doctor/patient confidentiality thing too, right? You can't tell Sandy and Kirsten even though I'm still a minor?"

"I promise that they won't find out anything from me."

"I've been on antidepressants before." Ryan said softly. "They put me on them when I was around ten, and I became like the walking dead."

* * *

><p>Sandy and Kirsten tried to sit patiently in the hall outside of Ryan's exam room. Kirsten kept having to stop herself from going back into the room to be with him. They watched as Dr. Jackson came out of the room with some vials of blood and rushed down the hall. They could hear Dr. Freedman conversing with Ryan in a low voice as Dr. Jackson returned to the room. Dr. Freedman came out of the room and approached them as they sat up.<p>

"Ok. He told me what happened at dinner last night. I think I might be a little closer to getting him to open up about his time spent in that facility. Which means you're also close to getting him to talk about it with you."

"We don't want to force him." Kirsten said. "He'll shut down on us completely then."

"I don't think he'll feel forced. I'm sure he'll feel ready to talk to you."

"Ryan's on his way out." Dr. Jackson came out. "He told me why he doesn't want to be on any medication, but he doesn't want me to tell you guys."

"You can't tell us anything at all?" Sandy asked him.

"Hypothetically," Dr. Jackson glanced back to make sure Ryan wasn't coming out. "If you were to get his file-I don't mean the file you got from Child Services when you took him in. I'm talking about his official medical file. If you were to get a hold of that, I'm sure you'd find some interesting information in there."

"So does he have PTSD?" Kirsten asked as Ryan came out and joined them in the uncomfortable chairs. "Will you put him on medication?"

"Ryan has a mild case of PTSD." Dr. Jackson told them. "I believe we caught it in time that there won't be that long of a treatment time."

"So do you recommend that we medicate?" Sandy asked seeing Ryan sit passively beside Kirsten.

"That is something you'll need to discuss with each other. But here's my suggestions." He handed them some papers with a list of medication names. "There's some antidepressants, anti-anxiety, and sleep aids. They're all very low dose. And you guys can control when and if he takes them."

"Ok." Sandy looked through all the papers.

"There's another treatment that I don't recommend unless nothing else works. It's called desensitization. It's where we would encourage Ryan to remember the event and express his feelings about it."

"No." Ryan finally spoke for the first time since he came out of the exam room.

"Like I said, it's the very last resort." Dr. Jackson assured him. "I also suggested a list of support groups with others who are suffering from PTSD. None of this is mandatory. The choice is up to you. These are just suggestions."

"We'll talk about it all later tonight." Sandy told them as they all stood up and walked out of the medical building.

They definitely had a lot to think about before they made any final decisions. All Sandy could think about, though, was calling Rachel as soon as he got home so they could track down Ryan's medical records in Chino and Fresno. Ryan remained silent in the back once again on the ride home. As soon as they arrived home, Ryan went into the house and right up to his room without saying a word to anyone. Kirsten watched him go and sighed as she followed Sandy into his office so they could talk about what all both of the doctors told them that day.

**AN: **So what'd you all think? I hope I got all the information right. Please R&R!


	13. Author's Note

TO ALL MY FANFICTION FOLLOWERS AND FRIENDS: SORRY I HAVEN'T UPDATED FOR A COUPLE MONTHS. MY CABLE AND INTERNET GOT SHUT OFF AND I HAVEN'T BEEN ABLE TO GET IT TURNED BACK ON YET. I AM WORKING ON IT THOUGH. I CAN ONLY GET ON THE INTERNET WHEN I'M AT MY SISTERS. MY GOAL IS TO HAVE IT TURNED BACK ON BY THE MIDDLE OF MARCH AROUND MY BIRTHDAY. SO EVERYONE JUST HANG IN THERE. I AM WORKING ON MY STORIES SINCE THAT IS ALL I CAN DO RIGHT NOW. AND I WILL TRY TO POST A NEW CHAPTER FOR YOU GUYS SOON. I'M ALSO WORKING ON TWO OTHER STORIES. ONE IS ABOUT MISSING PARENTAL MOMENTS BETWEEN RYAN AND THE COHENS. IT'LL MOSTLY BE RYAN/KIRSTEN BONDING SINCE I THINK THAT WAS MISSING ON THE SERIES. THE OTHER INVOLVES A LOT OF RYAN ANGST IN THE MIDDLE OF ALL THE PROBLEMS THAT HE HAD WITH OLIVER. ANYWAY, I WILL TRY TO POST WHEN I CAN. THANK YOU EVERYONE FOR BEING SO PATIENT.


	14. Ch 13: Discussions & Bonding

**Summary: **After the Oliver incident. Child services finds out about Ryan's trouble at school and takes him away. Sandy and Kirsten do everything they can to get him back with an unlikely source to help them.

**AN: **It is sooo good to have my cable and internet back! Although I did spend the last couple of months reacquainting myself with my OC DVDs. But now I can post a new chapter for you guys. And the first chapter of my new story as well. I didn't really expect to get any feedback from my last post since it wasn't a new chapter. So I was a little surprised to have so many responses in my inbox. I'm glad you're all such loyal followers of this. Anyway, onto the next chapter...

**Disclaimer: **See earlier chapters.

**Chapter 13: Discussions & Bonding**

Ryan lay in bed for awhile before getting restless and venturing downstairs. He heard Sandy and Kirsten conversing in low tones in Sandy's office. He silently went to the kitchen and grabbed a bottle of water out of the refrigerator. He passed Rosa as she was coming into the kitchen as he headed for the front door.

"Where are you going, young man?" she demanded.

"For a walk." He mumbled. "Let them know I have my cell phone with me. I don't want to disturb their talk in there."

"I don't want you to scare them like the last time you took off." She told him firmly. "So you be sure you answer the phone when they call you."

"I will. I promise." He smiled at her as he walked out the door.

"Hey, Atwood." He looked up and saw Seth and Summer getting out of her car. "Someone missed you at school today."

"Who?"

"Taylor Townsend was asking where you were." Seth told him. "I collected your work for you."

"Just leave it on the desk in my room." Ryan told him. "I'm going for a walk."

"Hey. How'd your appointment go?"

"I don't want to talk about it." He mumbled. "I'll be back in awhile."

"Is he ok?" Summer asked as they walked inside.

"He hates hospitals and doctors, so today was probably hard for him." They walked inside as Sandy came out of his office.

"Hey. How was school?" he asked them.

"It was ok." Seth told him. "Is it ok if Summer stays for supper?"

"Sure." He smiled at her. "It's good to see you, Summer."

"Sandy?" Kirsten came from upstairs. "Have you seen Ryan? He's not in his room."

"We ran into him in the driveway." Seth told them. "He said he was going for a walk and that he'd be back in awhile."

"We knew he'd have a reaction like this." Sandy told her. "Just let him have a little while for himself."

"You're right." Kirsten sighed. "Let's eat. We'll heat up Ryan's for him when he comes back."

* * *

><p>Ryan slowly walked along the beach as he kicked at patches of sand every so often. He spotted a few people scattered around the beach and started to walk back to the house.<p>

"Chino!" he turned around and saw Luke coming out of the water pushing a jet ski onto the shore. "Missed you at school today. You feeling better?"

"Sure." He shrugged. "How's the water?"

"Perfect for jet skiing." Luke told him. "So what are you doing here?"

"Needed a break from all the drama."

"Then why don't we go back to my house? I think supper should be ready soon. We can play video games after. You'll just have to put up with my younger brothers."

"I'll have to call Sandy and Kirsten." Ryan took out his cell phone. "Hey, Kirsten. It's Ryan."

"Hey. Are you ok?"

"Yeah. I was hoping it would be all right if I had supper over at Luke's. I ran into him on the beach."

"I think that'll be ok. Just be back here by nine. You still need to do your homework, and we need to talk."

"Thank you. I promise I'll be back by nine." Ryan hung up and followed Luke to his truck.

They got to Luke's house and were immediately greeted by Luke's brothers, Eric and Brad, having a wrestling match in the front entrance hall over a football.

"They're always like that." Luke told him as he saw his mom come out of the kitchen. "Hey, mom. Is it ok if Ryan stays for supper?"

"Of course." Meredith smiled at them. "It's good to see you again, Ryan."

"Thank you," Ryan smiled at her politely.

"Come on. We can play some Playstation until it's ready." Luke took him into the den and set up the system.

* * *

><p>Sandy and Kirsten were sitting in the living room anxiously waiting for Ryan to come home. Seth had gone to his room as soon as supper was over and Summer had gone home. He was no doubt upstairs talking to her on the phone right now. Sandy kept glancing at his watch as it got closer and closer to nine o'clock.<p>

"Relax, Sandy." Kirsten looked over at him. "He still has fifteen minutes."

"He's avoiding us." He told her.

"He's not avoiding us. He just needed some time by himself. And to hang out with his friend so he doesn't have to think about everything that's going on with him right now."

"I guess." Sandy sighed as they heard the front door open and looked back to see Ryan coming into the house.

"There you are." Kirsten got up off the couch.

"Sorry." Ryan said softly. "Luke wanted a rematch on the Playstation after we ate."

"It's ok. You're not late." Sandy told him. "Come in here. We need to talk."

"Can't it just wait until morning?"

"Sorry, kid. You got a free pass for a few hours, but we need to talk about what happened today."

"Fine." He reluctantly joined them in the living room and sat across from them.

"Now you should know that I went out and filled the prescriptions that the doctor recommended for you." Kirsten told him and he sighed. "Wait. Hold on before you get upset. We won't make you take any of them for now."

"What do you mean for now?" Ryan looked at them.

"It means that we're going to be keeping a pretty close watch on you right now." Sandy told him. "And if we see any signs that we think indicate that you should take any of them, we'll take action."

"Ok." Ryan said softly.

"We also just want you to remember that you can talk to us." Kirsten told him. "There will be no judgment whatsoever. We just want you to open up to us."

"So Dr. Jackson told you about me being on antidepressants before, right?"

"Actually, no." Sandy looked at him, surprised. "He hinted at it, but he didn't confirm anything."

"You were on antidepressants when you were younger?" Kirsten went to sit next to him.

"I don't want to talk about it." he said softly. "I don't like to think about it."

"No one is going to force you to talk about something that you don't want to." Sandy told him. "But we'll be here when you are ready to talk. No judgments. And it will stay between us. I promise."

"Ok." Ryan said softly. "Can I be excused yet?"

"Not quite yet." Kirsten said. "Since last night's dinner didn't go as planned, we scheduled another one for tomorrow night."

"Fine. Now can I go?"

"Go ahead. Don't stay up too late."

"Got it. Good night." Ryan walked upstairs and walked into his room, shutting his door tightly.

Ryan spotted the homework that Seth had collected for him sitting on top of his desk. He looked through it and saw that they would be starting a research project in History and his subject was already chosen for him; the American Revolution. He decided to start on some of the research that night and bookmark some good websites. He was getting ready to turn off his computer when his buddy list popped up.

TayTown 33: got time to talk?

RyAt45: Not long. What's up?

TayTown33: Just making sure you're ok. Missed you in Chemistry today.

RyAt45: Wasn't feeling well. Kirsten made me go to the doctor.

TayTown 33: Everything ok?

RyAt45: Fine. I'll be back tomorrow. We can catch up on our lab reports at lunch.

TayTown33: Sounds good.

"Ryan?" he heard Kirsten as she softly knocked on the door.

RyAt45: Kirsten's coming. Have to go.

TayTown33: Bye. Pick you up in the morning?

RyAt45: That'd be great. See you in the morning.

Ryan logged off and turned off the computer as the door opened and Kirsten came in. He packed up his completed work in his bag as he looked up at her.

"Sorry. Lost track of time." He told her.

"It's fine. But you should get to bed now."

"Right." He got out of the desk chair and started to walk past her to get to the bathroom.

"Well, good night. We'll see you in the morning."

"Good night." He told her as she eventually left his room.

He came out of the bathroom and turned out the light as he climbed into bed.

* * *

><p>The next night, Ryan was sitting at the table in the dining room waiting for this latest torture-fest to begin so it could end. Sandy and Kirsten were finishing up getting supper ready while Seth was told to set the table. Ryan continued to sit glumly as Sandy and Kirsten brought all the food in.<p>

"Cheer up, kid. It's not that bad." Sandy told him.

"We're all here with you." Kirsten told him.

"Well, where is he?" Ryan grumbled. "Let's get this over with."

"I'm here." Caleb came in followed by Rosa, who had obviously let him in. "I hope you haven't started without me."

"I wanted to." Ryan mumbled.

"Ryan," Kirsten warned.

"What?" he grumbled.

"Ok." Sandy interrupted the impending argument. "We have chicken parm. No fish whatsoever."  
>"Since we know that you like this, you are to stay at the table until at least half of your share is gone." Kirsten told him firmly.<p>

"Fine." Ryan sighed as Seth brought out some drinks and sat beside Ryan.

"So how was school today?" Sandy took the lead.

"Fine." Ryan mumbled as he stabbed a piece of chicken with his fork.

"Anything interesting happen?"

"Nope." Ryan mumbled.

"There's a dance coming up." Seth offered.

"Really?" Kirsten smiled. "What's the theme?"

"It's going to be a Hawaiian Luau thing."

"And it's three months from now." Ryan told them. "For the end of the school year."

"Are you guys going to go?"

"Well, yeah." Seth told them. "Summer loves the dances."

"How about you, Ryan?" Sandy looked at him.

"What's the point?" he grumbled. "So I can be the third wheel? I've been one of those before. It didn't work out so well."

"You can always go with Taylor-"

"We. Are. Just. Friends." He emphasized firmly.

"So you can go as friends."

"Whatever."

"Who is this Taylor girl anyway?" Caleb finally saw an opening in the conversation.

"Taylor Townsend." Kirsten told him. "Her mother is Veronica Townsend."

"The sports agent?"

"That's her."

"She's also on the school board." Seth added. "She tried to get Ryan kicked out of school."

"She really doesn't like me." Ryan made eye contact with Caleb.

"Without getting to know you first?" Caleb asked.

"Kind of like someone else I know."

"You opened yourself up for that one, Gramps." Seth said as Sandy tried to hide his amusement.

"Ryan, are you going to the batting cages again this weekend?" Kirsten asked, hoping to steer the conversation away from any possible tension.

"If it's ok with you." He mumbled.

"It's fine." She smiled at him.

The rest of the meal went much the same way with Ryan offering up very minimal interaction. As soon as he ate the required amount, he shoved his chair back and left the room without saying a word to any of them. They heard some loud music blast from upstairs as they all started to clear the table.

"It went better than I thought it would." Sandy commented.

"I expected him to slug grandpa." Seth told them.

"I think we all were expecting that." Kirsten sighed.

"Nice of all of you to say." Caleb grumbled to them.

"Sorry, gramps." Seth looked at him. "But you have a tendency to bring the worst out of people."

"Do you guys have this?" Kirsten looked at them. "I'm going to go see how Ryan is doing."

"We'll take care of it." Sandy told her as she walked out of the kitchen and started up the stairs.

Kirsten got to Ryan's door and knocked loudly. After getting no response, she walked in and saw him lying across the bed with one arm covering his eyes. She went to the radio and turned it off.

"I was listening to that." He grumbled as he took his arm away from his face and sat up.

"Well, now you're not." She stated.

"Look, I did what you asked. I had supper with him."

"You were also supposed to be civil."

"That was me being civil. You don't want to see how I react to him when I'm upset."

"Ryan-"

"Why are you so upset? This wasn't one of my conditions."

"What are you talking about?"

"I agreed to sports, counseling, and no Marissa. No one made me agree to meals with him. You made that agreement with him, not me."

"I want you guys to get to know each other. You might find out that you have some things in common."

"Doubtful." He mumbled. "Are we done? I should start on my homework."

"We're done for now." She told him. "Remember I'm here if you need to talk to someone."

"Yeah. Got it." He took his homework out of his book bag and started on it as she left his room.

**AN: **So what'd you all think? I'm kind of at a loss at where the next chapter should go. So if anyone would like to give me any positive feedback about it, feel free to drop me a post. And as always, please R&R!


	15. Ch 14: Revelations

**Summary: **After the Oliver incident. Child services finds out about Ryan's trouble at school and takes him away. Sandy and Kirsten do everything they can to get him back with an unlikely source to help them.

**AN: **I am so sorry to all the readers and reviewers of this story that I haven't updated this in so long. I was having a hard time formulating what I wanted to say into words. It's getting a little difficult coming up with some new ideas for this. Plus I'm finding it much easier to come up with ideas for my other OC story. Ryan's Problem. But hopefully this chapter turned out all right. PLZ R&R!

**Disclaimer: **See earlier chapters.

**Chapter 14: Revelations**

Ryan shot up in bed as sweat dripped down his face. He slowly climbed out of bed and went to his bathroom to get a glass of water to drink. He took a few deep breaths to calm his nerves. He walked out of the bathroom and crept down the stairs and into the den. He turned on the TV with the volume on low and lay back against the back of the couch. He didn't want to think about the dream he was just plagued with; the facility, the guards, the 'therapy' sessions, the late-night 'bed checks'. He shook his head to try to keep the images out of his head and concentrated on the television program that was on.

* * *

><p>Sandy made his way down to the kitchen as he looked through some papers that were important for the meetings he had that day. He found his briefcase on the kitchen counter and put his papers in it. He started to go into the den to watch the morning news when he stopped in his tracks. Ryan was passed out on the couch as some early-morning talk show played on TV.<p>

"Ryan," he softly shook him. "Time to wake up."

"Time is it?" Ryan slowly sat up and rubbed the sleep out of his eyes.

"I'd say you have about fifteen minutes before Kirsten comes down here."

"I should get ready for school." He started to get up.

"Why are you sleeping down here? Your own bed not comfortable?"

"I couldn't sleep. I figured the TV would put me to sleep. I guess I was right."

"Is there anything you want to talk to me about?"

"Not this early." Ryan started up the stairs. "I better get ready before I'm late."

"Ryan-"

"I'm fine, Sandy." He disappeared up the stairs.

A few minutes later, Kirsten came down with the contracts she needed for work that day. She noticed Sandy standing in front of the doors that led out onto the patio.

"Hey. What's going on?" she set her things down on the counter and poured herself a cup of coffee.

"Just thinking." He turned around and went to stand by her as they both drank out of their coffee mugs.

"What are you thinking about?"

"How we'll be able to help Ryan." He sighed deeply. "I found him sleeping on the couch in the den this morning."

"Oh."

"I take it this isn't the first time he's done that." He looked at her.

"I've caught him a few times. He said he couldn't sleep."

"Honey-"

"Of course I know there's more to the story. I just didn't think it was the time to push him."

"I think now would be an ideal time to do just that."

"I know." They both looked up as there was some commotion and Seth and Ryan rushed into the kitchen and grabbed a couple bagels to take with them.

"Hey. What's the hurry?" Sandy asked them.

"Taylor's here." Ryan told them.

"Summer just pulled in." Seth added.

"Have a good day!" Kirsten called as they rushed outside to the waiting cars. "I'll talk to Ryan when he gets home tonight."

"I'm off." He picked up his briefcase. "Rachel has some important information involving the adoption. I'll call you when I know more."

"Good luck." She smiled after him as she gathered her things for work and followed him out.

* * *

><p>Ryan walked into the school with Taylor as she suggested that they get together sometime over the weekend. He opened his locker and found the books he needed as he glanced at her.<p>

"Luke and I are going to the batting cages." He told her. "You can come if you want to."

"I'd love to." She smiled at him. "So what's wrong?"

"Nothing." He started down the hall, but she pulled him back. "Really, it's nothing."

"It's not nothing. I can tell."

"Sandy found me sleeping on the couch this morning."

"You had another dream?"

"Yeah."

"So did you tell him anything?"

"No. I haven't told any of them about it."

"Maybe you should. I mean, you didn't have a problem telling me."

"I'm not as emotionally involved with you as I am with them."

"I know. But if you let them in, I'm sure you won't regret it."

"Maybe." He sighed as they walked to their first classes.

Seth and Summer watched them as they parted ways down the hall. Seth sighed as he took Summer's hand.

"He was sleeping on the couch again." He told her. "He doesn't think I know. I hear him every time he wakes up from a bad dream."

"It's going to be ok." She assured him. "He'll open up to you when he's ready to talk."

* * *

><p>Sandy had just gotten to his office when the door opened and Rachel came in with information that would help them track down Ryan's mom. She gave him an address from her last known whereabouts, as well as a thick folder.<p>

"What's all this?" he looked up at her.

"I was able to track down Ryan's medical records." She told him. "But I think you should take a look at something first."

"What is it?" he opened the thinner file she had placed on top of the thicker one and saw a doctor's invoice.

"It's from the night that your father-in-law pulled him out of that facility." She watched as he started to read the doctor's notes on Ryan.

It wasn't until he got to the bottom of the second page that he realized just how much Ryan had gone through.

"Oh my god." He looked up at Rachel. "And you're sure this is Ryan's file?"

"Positive." She told him. "I'll leave you to look through the rest of that."

"Unbelievable." Sandy sighed as he scanned the rest of Ryan's medical history and decided that he needed to inform Kirsten about all of it.

* * *

><p>Kirsten had just gotten out of a meeting when the receptionist informed her that Sandy was waiting for her in her office. She walked in and saw him sitting before her desk with a couple of folders in his hands.<p>

"Hey." She smiled at him. "This is a surprise. What's going on?"

"When I got to the office this morning, Rachel gave me these." He placed the folders on her desk.

"What are they?"

"The thicker one is Ryan's full medical record. The other one is the invoice from the emergency room the night that Ryan got out of the facility."

"When my father took him." She opened up the thinner folder and scanned the doctor invoice. "Oh my god."

"I know." Sandy said softly.

"My father had to have known about this."

"You think so?"

"He got him out of that place, he took him to the hospital, and he stayed with him the entire time. He had to have known something." Kirsten got up from the desk and started out of the room.

"Where are you going?"

"To my dad's office." She stated and he quickly got up to follow her.

* * *

><p>Ryan slowly followed behind Luke after they got their lunch and tried to find a vacant table. Ryan started feeling run-down halfway through second period. His teacher noticed and wanted to send him down to the nurse, but Ryan refused to go thinking he'd be able to stick it out for the rest of the day.<p>

"There's Seth." Luke spotted him at a vacant table and they went to join him.

"Hey, man." Seth spotted Ryan. "You're not looking that great."

"Thank you very much." Ryan mumbled. "Where's Summer?"

"She'll be here in a minute. Marissa had an 'emergency' that she needed Summer's help with."

"Some emergency." Summer mumbled as she came and joined them.

"So what did she need?" Seth asked her.

"Don't even ask." She sighed as she glanced at Ryan. "You're not looking so hot, Chino."

"Again thank you." Ryan mumbled. "I forgot my water. I'll be right back."

"Is he ok?" Luke looked at Seth.

"He was fine this morning." Seth told them.

"He was all right in first period too."

"He's been having some trouble sleeping the last couple of days." Seth told them. "He probably just needs to catch up on his sleep."

"Seth," Ryan came back to them.

"You're looking worse than you did when you left."

"I know."

"Let's get you to the nurse." Seth stood up and started to walk with him to the nurse's office. "We'll call mom and dad."

"Thanks." Ryan told him as they started back inside the school.

"No problem." Seth told him as they slowly walked down the hall.

They were almost to the nurse's office when Seth felt Ryan fall against him. He looked and saw his eyes closed as he started to fall to the ground. Seth practically dragged him to the nurse's office, where he explained to her what had happened. They both managed to get Ryan lying down on the cot and she immediately called for an ambulance while Seth tried to get through to his parents.

* * *

><p>Caleb was sitting at his desk doing some paper work when he saw Kirsten headed towards his office. The look she had on her face told him that it wasn't going to be a pleasant conversation.<p>

"Kiki," Caleb greeted her as she stepped into his office and he noticed Sandy hurrying to catch up to her. "Sanford, what are you doing here?"

"Tell me you didn't know." Kirsten placed a folder down in front of him.

"What?" he opened the folder and looked back up at them once he realized what it was.

"That is the invoice from the ER doctor when you got Ryan out of that facility." She told him. "You knew didn't you?"

"Kiki-"

"Did you know, yes or no?"

"Yes." Caleb sighed.

"Why the hell didn't you tell us?" Sandy demanded.

"Ryan knew that I knew what happened before he even left the hospital that day. I-"

"You should've told us." Kirsten stated firmly.

"He made me promise not to. He knew you guys would get all worked up, file charges, and that he'd possibly have to testify in court. He wanted to forget about it."

"He hasn't forgotten about it, Cal. He's been having nightmares, and they're most likely about what happened to him in there." Sandy told him.

"Look-"

"Dad, he was assaulted in that place." Kirsten stated. "Did you see the doctor's notes at the bottom? It says that it's not the first time it's happened to him. We knew he had a rough childhood-"

"Look, I admit I haven't given the boy a fair chance," Caleb started. "I thought if I did this for him, we'd at least start to be ok."

"That's not how it works with my family."

"I'm sorry to interrupt," the receptionist knocked on the door before entering the office. "Mrs. Cohen, your son Seth is on the line. He says it's an emergency. Says it's about Ryan."

"Seth?" Kirsten snatched the phone off her father's desk. "Is everything all right? What's going on with Ryan?"

Sandy and Caleb watched as Kirsten talked to Seth for the next several minutes.

"Is he ok? Where are they taking him? Yes, go with him. We'll meet you there in a little bit."

"What's going on?" Sandy asked once she had hung up the phone.

"Ryan collapsed at school during lunch. The nurse called for an ambulance. I told Seth to ride with him to the hospital."

"Let's go." The three of them rushed out of the office and took the elevator down.

**AN: **Cliffhanger! So what'd you all think? A few of you predicted right about what had happened to Ryan in the facility. What do you think happened to Ryan? The next chapter or two will deal with Sandy and Kirsten starting to help Ryan deal with everything. PLZ R&R!


	16. Ch 15: Trying To Talk

**Summary: **After the Oliver incident. Child services finds out about Ryan's trouble at school and takes him away. Sandy and Kirsten do everything they can to get him back with an unlikely source to help them.

**Disclaimer: **See earlier chapters.

**AN: **Sorry for not updating sooner, but I had a little trouble writing this chapter. Hopefully it came out pretty good for all of you guys. Please R&R!

**Chapter 15: Trying To Talk**

Seth was pacing the emergency waiting room when he saw his mom, dad, and grandfather rush in. They reached him and demanded to know what happened.

"He was fine this morning." Seth told them. "Luke said he was fine in first period. He was just run-down at lunch, but he was determined to finish out the day. I was taking him to the nurse's office when he collapsed."

"Where is he now?" Kirsten asked him.

"Dr. Jackson is with him. I had him paged as soon as we got here."

"Good. At least he's familiar with Dr. Jackson."

"How long have they been back there?" Sandy asked.

"Awhile." Seth sighed. "Ryan hadn't regained consciousness by the time we arrived here."

"Seth, why don't we get your parents some coffee from the cafeteria?" Caleb suggested to his grandson, and they both started down the hall.

It didn't seem like they had been sitting that long before the heard a familiar voice.

"Sandy, Kirsten," they looked back and saw Dr. Jackson coming down the hall towards them. "Ryan is going to be fine."

"So what happened?" Sandy asked.

"Ryan was severely dehydrated when he was brought in." Dr. Jackson started. "But we have it all under control right now."

"Is he awake?" Kirsten asked.

"He was awake for a little bit so I could ask him some questions, but he fell back asleep."

"So what are you doing for him now?"

"We have him hooked up to an IV to try to get some fluids into him." Dr. Jackson looked at them. "I'm a little concerned with his diet right now."

"What do you mean?"

"He told me that you've been monitoring his eating habits, but are you aware that he's been throwing up each night the last couple of days?"

"No. We didn't know."

"I heard him a couple times." Seth confessed as he came back with their coffees as Caleb followed after him, causing his parents to look at him sternly. "But he swore to me that it was nothing."

"Ryan also told me he's felt really tired the last couple of days, been experiencing some bad migraines."

"So what do you suggest?" Sandy asked him.

"I want him to stay here until the IV bag is empty, then you can take him home. I'd suggest letting him stay home from school at least for tomorrow."

"He's not going to like that. He looks forward to school now."

"But if it helps him get better-" Kirsten told him. "What can we do once we get him home?"

"Really push the fluids. I'd suggest getting some Gatorade or something like that. And for whatever reason, something is curbing his appetite right now. Really push him to eat. Get junk food if you have to."

"So can we see him now?" Sandy asked.

"Of course, but just you two since he's still sleeping." He started to lead them down the hall. "Like I said, he's sleeping right now. But once he wakes up and the IV bag is empty, you can take him home."

"Thank you." They walked into the private room where Ryan was.

He was still in his street clothes, and he was fast asleep as an IV dripped some fluids into his left hand. Kirsten sat beside him on one side of the bed as she took his hand and brushed some unruly bangs out of his eyes.

"So I think it's more than possible that his appetite is a psychological effect from what happened to him." Sandy told her as he sat on his other side.

"I know." She said softly. "I don't think we should confront him about this just yet. Not until he's a little stronger."

"Kirsten-"

"Sandy, do you really think he's going to come right out and say, 'Oh thank god you know. Now let's talk about it.'?"

"No." he sighed. "I say we give him a few hours, and then talk to him. After we get him home and get him to eat something."

"You're right." She glanced at Sandy. "But I don't think you should be present. I think I should talk to him about this alone."

"Why?"

"Thinking back on everything, I realize that Ryan's been very wary of you and my father since he got out of that place. You're both people of authority in his life. It was a person of authority that-"

"I get it. And you're probably right. I won't be in the room, but I will be standing outside the door."

"As long as you don't try to come in while I talk to him."

"Agreed." Sandy told her as Ryan stirred a little, but remained asleep.

"How is he?" there was a knock at the door and Seth slowly came in.

"He's fine. A little dehydrated, but he'll be fine."

"He's actually sleeping right now." Kirsten told him. "Where's your grandfather?"

"He went back to the office. He said he'll come by later. I'm going to call Luke and Summer; I should probably call Taylor, too."

"Tell them that Ryan needs his rest tonight."

"Got it." Seth told them as he shut the door behind him.

"You know as much as I want to, we can't stay mad at your father." Sandy said. "He was only doing what he thought was right, and he was doing it for Ryan. We've wanted him to act like a real grandfather to him. I know his motives were-"

"I know, Sandy." Kirsten interrupted him. "I'll talk to him later tonight."

* * *

><p>Ryan slowly fought through the cloud that surrounded him as he heard hushed whispers all around him. He slowly opened his eyes and blinked rapidly at the bright light. He looked around and saw both Sandy and Kirsten on the other side of the room talking on their cell phones. Sandy noticed he was awake first and quickly hung up his phone and approached him.<p>

"How are you feeling, kid?"

"Tired." He admitted softly.

"You're almost out of here. The bag is almost empty." Sandy pointed to the bag that was hanging on the IV stand near his bed.

"Ryan," Kirsten hung up her phone as well and joined Sandy at his bedside.

"I'm sorry I didn't call you guys when I started feeling tired today."

"We were a little upset, but it's fine." Kirsten assured him. "We'll get you out of here soon and you can choose whatever you want for supper tonight."

"No. I don't-"

"Ryan, you need to eat. What would you like tonight?"

"I don't know." He mumbled.

"How about some pizza?" Sandy suggested.

"Sure. Whatever." He shrugged.

"And you will eat it tonight. We'll be watching you to make sure."

"Fine." He sighed and turned his head away from them.

A half hour later, Ryan was able to go home. Sandy slowly pushed Ryan down the hall in the wheelchair, much to Ryan's protest. But both Kirsten and Dr. Jackson said there was no way he was getting out of the hospital unless he left in one. So Ryan reluctantly let Sandy push him towards the exit as Seth went to pull the car up to the sliding doors and Kirsten left in her car to go get some things at the store for Ryan.

"Thank goodness you can come home, man." Seth opened the back door of the BMW. "Think you'll be up for some Playstation action?"

"Not tonight, Seth. Ryan needs his rest." Sandy told them as Ryan got into the back seat and Sandy went around to the driver's side and pulled away.

"He'll be doing that the next couple days." Seth told him. "Can't he just have tonight?"

"He needs his rest, son."

"Why do I have to stay home from school tomorrow anyway?" Ryan mumbled as they pulled up to the plaza where the pizza shop was.

"Seth, run in and get the pizzas. They should be ready by now." Sandy told him and he quickly got out of the car and rushed inside. "We want you to stay home from school tomorrow so you can catch up on your rest."

"I get plenty of rest."

"Apparently you don't since you collapsed in school today from lack of sleep and dehydration."

"School helps me take my mind off things for a few hours."

"What kind of things?"

"Nice try." Ryan laid his back on the seat and closed his eyes as the front passenger door opened and Seth got in with their supper.

When they arrived home, Kirsten and Rosa met them in the kitchen. Ryan bypassed them both and walked around the counter to help Seth with the pizzas. He got out the plates and glasses from the cupboard and took them to the table as Seth opened the pizza boxes.

"Seriously?" Seth looked back at them. "Chicken and pineapple?"

"Ryan likes it." Sandy told him. "Quit complaining."

"So what's wrong with Ryan?" Kirsten asked Sandy as Rosa cleaned up before she left for the night.

"He wants to go to school tomorrow."

"Really? Seth would welcome a day off from school."

"He said it helps him take his mind off things."

"Oh."

"Are we eating or not?" Seth called back to them.

"Since you made such a big deal about this all afternoon." Ryan grumbled.

"We're coming." Kirsten grabbed a bottle of Gatorade from the refrigerator and placed it before Ryan's plate. "You need some fluid intake. I don't want to have to take you back to the hospital after you just got released."

"Whatever," Ryan opened the bottle and took a big gulp.

"Could you either stop with the surly attitude or tell us why you're acting like this?" Sandy looked across the table at him.

"Why are you making me stay home from school yet again?"

"You need to get some rest." Kirsten told him. "You obviously haven't been getting much sleep since I've caught you on more than one occasion sleeping on the den couch in the morning."

"Missing a day at this school is like missing a month. I'm just barely caught up as it is."

"That's the problem?" Sandy asked. "Seth can collect your work for you. It's not a problem at all."

"You don't get it." Ryan mumbled as he picked at his pizza.

"Get what?"

"Nothing. Never mind." Ryan started to eat what was on his plate.

"Ryan-"

"You wanted me to eat, right?" Ryan gave them all a look as he silently ate his pizza.

* * *

><p>After a very intense dinner, Kirsten went to make a call from her bedroom while Ryan brooded in his room. Seth was in Ryan's room trying to talk to him while Sandy was calling Dr. Freedman for an emergency session tomorrow afternoon.<p>

"Dad," Kirsten spoke into the phone once he had picked up on the other end. "I just wanted to tell you that we're not mad at you."

"Kiki, I really was doing what I thought was right."

"I know. But it was the wrong step to take if you wanted to help Ryan."

"You haven't talked to him yet, have you?"

"I'm working up to it."

"He's going to clam up very tightly, I imagine."

"I know. Sandy's scheduling an appointment with Dr. Freedman."

"Just don't expect too much out of him. And if you guys need me-"

"Thanks, dad." Kirsten hung up the phone and started out of the bedroom as Sandy was coming out of his office. "If I don't do it now, I'll never do it."

"Right behind you." Sandy followed her up the stairs as Seth came out of Ryan's bedroom. "How is he?"

"Good luck." Seth mumbled as he started downstairs.

"Here I go." Kirsten glanced back at Sandy before placing her hand on the door knob. "Wish me luck."

"I'll be out here the whole time." He told her. "If you need backup-"

She nodded as he gave her a reassuring look and slowly walked into Ryan's bedroom. He was lying back on the bed as he had his History book open on his lap as he read what was before him.

"I thought we told you that you had to rest." She told him.

"I am resting." He mumbled. "This is me resting."

"Could you put that away for a minute? We need to talk about something."

"Ok." He put his text book on his bedside table and slowly sat up as she brought his desk chair over to the bed and sat down on it. "What's wrong?"

"Sandy came to my office today. He received some things that are vital to the adoption process." She started cautiously.

"You found my mom?"

"There's an address where she may possibly be. But he received your full medical file, including the doctor invoice from the night you left that facility."

A look passed over Ryan's face all of a sudden and he moved to sit on the edge of one side of the bed so his back was facing Kirsten.

"Ryan-" Kirsten started.

"Y-You-You guys know." He said softly.

"Yes, we know."

"And?"

"And what?" Kirsten got up to sit by him on the bed. "It doesn't change anything. It doesn't change how we feel about you."

"How can you say that?" he glanced at her. "Everything has changed now. At least before I could pretend that it was just a bad dream. Now that you guys know-"

"Nothing will change how we feel about you."

"But it'll change how you act around me." Ryan moved away from Kirsten so his back was against the headboard and brought his knees up to his chest. "I'm not talking about it."

* * *

><p>Sandy stood outside Ryan's door trying to listen to what was going on in the room behind him. He suddenly heard Ryan's voice getting louder as he heard Kirsten's soft voice pleading with him.<p>

"Dad?" Seth was coming up the stairs as he heard the very loud conversation going on behind Ryan's closed door. "Is that true?"

"Come on." Sandy led Seth down the hall to Seth's room and they both sat down on one side of the bed. "So what did you hear?"

"That Ryan was-I can't say it out loud." Seth shook his head. "Who did it?"

"We're not sure." Sandy sighed. "But this isn't the first time that this has happened to him."

"What do you mean?"

"There was an incident when he was younger. We're not sure how old he was when it happened, but it did happen."

"Is he going to be ok?" Seth looked at him.

"Hopefully. With the right approach." Sandy put an arm around him. "Seth, I don't want you to tell anyone about this ok? Not even Summer."

"I promise I won't say anything." He told him as Kirsten came into the room.

"What happened?" Sandy asked her.

"At first, he was very quiet. He said he wasn't going to talk about it. I kept telling him that he could come to us about it if he wanted to, then he started yelling that none of us understood anything. Then he yelled for me to get out and clammed up. So I just left."

"I called and scheduled an appointment for him with Dr. Freedman tomorrow afternoon." Sandy told her.

"So what do we do now?" Seth looked at them.

"We'll just let him be for tonight." Sandy told them. "And try again tomorrow."

"I guess you're right." Kirsten sighed as she followed Sandy out of the room and Seth sat heavily on his bed and sighed.

**AN: **So what'd you all think? I promise that I will go a little more in-depth with the Cohen's trying to help Ryan deal with this. Please R&R!


	17. Ch 16: A New Ally

**Summary: **After the Oliver incident. Child services finds out about Ryan's trouble at school and takes him away. Sandy and Kirsten do everything they can to get him back with an unlikely source to help them.

**AN: **Another update for all of you. It's a little long, but I couldn't find a good place to leave off. Hope you like it. PLZ R&R!

**Disclaimer: **See earlier chapters.

**Chapter 16: A New Ally**

The next morning, everyone was very subdued. They barely got any sleep. Ryan stayed holed up in his room for the rest of the night; that didn't stop either Sandy or Kirsten from checking on him periodically throughout the night. Seth slowly padded into the kitchen to find both his parents sitting at the counter as Rosa was making some breakfast on the stove.

"Hey." Seth greeted them as he sat on one of the stools.

"Have you heard anything from Ryan's room?" Kirsten asked him.

"Not since-" he stopped mid-sentence and glanced at them both.

"Since when?" Sandy looked at him. "What aren't you telling us?"

"It's nothing." Seth mumbled.

"He had a nightmare, didn't he?"

"Seth," Kirsten gave him a look.

"You guys," he sighed. "All right. I hear every time he has them. He has them at least once a night."

"Seth I know you probably think you're helping him, but you're not."

"You need to tell us these things." Sandy told him. "It's especially important now with the recent revelations that have come to light."

"I know, and I get it." Seth sighed as Rosa placed their breakfast plates before them. "Should I go get Ryan?"

"I'll go." Kirsten got up from her seat and made her way upstairs.

She stopped just outside the door to Ryan's bedroom listening for any kind of movement. She slowly opened the door and walked in to see Ryan lying across the bed with his back facing her and his head partially covered by one of his pillows.

"Ryan," she sat on the edge of his bed and started to shake his shoulder.

"I'm sleeping," he mumbled as he burrowed deeper under the covers. "That is what you wanted me to do today, isn't it? Since I didn't get very much sleep last night, thanks to you."

"What are you talking about?"

"For someone who tells me that I need to get some rest, why would you take turns with Sandy coming into my room every five minutes last night? I woke up every time I heard the door creak open."

"I'm very sorry about that. We were just worried about you."

"I'm fine, now leave me alone so I can sleep."

"Fifteen minutes," Kirsten told him as she got off the bed.

"What?" Ryan finally sat up and looked at her.

"That's how long until the rest of us have to leave. If you are not down in the kitchen eating the breakfast that Rosa made especially for you by the time we all leave, then I will send Sandy up here to get you out of bed. And I know you don't want that."

"Fine!" Ryan spat at her as she left his room.

"How'd it go?" Sandy asked her as she came back into the kitchen.

"Apparently we kept waking him up last night whenever we went to go check on him."

"Oops." Sandy sighed. "Is he on his way down?"

"Possibly." She sighed.

Ten minutes later, Sandy and Kirsten were pouring themselves some coffee into thermos' to take with them as Seth was waiting for Summer to arrive. They all looked up as they heard a noise and watched Ryan pad into the room and take a seat at the table.

"Morning," Sandy greeted him as Rosa brought a plate over to him and placed a glass of orange juice in front of him.

"Whatever." Ryan mumbled as he slowly ate the ham and cheese omelet that Rosa had made for him.

"We're leaving now," Kirsten informed him. "But we will be checking in today. So you are to rest as much as you can."

"Fine." Ryan sighed impatiently. "Good bye."

As soon as the three Cohen's left, Rosa started jabbering away in Spanish to Ryan. He responded back to her in the same native tongue she was using.

"¿Por qué están siendo infantil?" (Translation: Why are you being so childish?)

"Porque tengo ganas." (Translation: Because I feel like it.) Ryan mumbled under his breath thinking that Rosa wouldn't be able to hear him, but she did anyway.

"Sólo está tratando de ayudarle." (Translation: They're only trying to help you.)

"No quiero su ayuda." (Translation: I don't want their help.)

"Lo necesita." (Translation: You need it.)

"No necesito su ayuda." (Translation: I don't need their help.)

"Dejar de discutir conmigo y comer su desayuno." (Translation: Quit arguing with me and eat your breakfast.)

"No tengo hambre." (Translation: I'm not hungry.)

"De todos modos lo come. Y escuchar tus mayores." (Translation: Eat it anyway. And listen to your elders.)

"Fino!" (Translation: Fine!)

"No quieres llegar a mi lado malo. Ahora comer así puedo dar a Senora Cohen un buen informe cuando ella llama a comprobar en usted más tarde." (Translation: You don't want to get on my bad side. Now eat so I can give Senora Cohen a good report when she calls to check up on you later.) Rosa was trying to be understanding of what Ryan was going through, but he was making it very difficult for her to do so.

Rosa walked to the laundry room to start a load as Ryan went back to his breakfast. He managed to eat more than half and gulped down his orange juice before he took the dishes to the sink and went back up to his room. He tried to get some more sleep, but Rosa was worse than Sandy and Kirsten when it came to checking up on him.

He knew he wasn't going to be able to get any sleep, so he just gave up on it. He was getting restless just sitting in his room with nothing to do all day, so he decided that he needed to get out of the house. He knew that Rosa liked to watch her 'stories' at two o'clock, so he knew that she wouldn't disturb him in that time period. That would provide him with enough time and opportunity to plan his escape. He just needed to plan it well enough.

* * *

><p>Kirsten walked back into her office after the investor's meeting and went to the phone on her desk. She looked up as she saw Sandy coming down the hall and waved him in.<p>

"Hi, Rosa." She spoke into the phone. "How's Ryan doing? How much has he eaten? Has he eaten any lunch yet? Where is he now? Well, put him on so I can talk to him."

"How is he?" Sandy asked as he pulled their lunches from the paper bag and placed them on the desk.

"He ate more than half of his breakfast, but he's been in his room ever since."

"Maybe he's getting rest like we asked him to."

"Rosa, what's wrong?" Kirsten spoke into the phone again. "What? Ok. Just search the house and we'll be there soon."  
>"What's going on?" Sandy asked her as she hung up the phone.<p>

"Ryan's not in his room. Rosa hasn't seen him since she took his lunch up to him. The tray hasn't been touched."

"Let's go." Sandy discarded their lunches and followed her out of the office.

* * *

><p>Ryan couldn't believe that it was so easy for him to get out of the house. He waited until Rosa had gone back into the laundry room to switch the loads and hurried out the back door. He ducked into the garage and grabbed his bike and pedaled away from the gated community. He had no idea where he was heading; but he suddenly realized that he was coasting up a driveway and knocking on a door.<p>

"Ryan?" the person that opened the door was shocked to see him standing on their doorstep in front of them.

"Mr. Nichol," Ryan greeted softly. "I didn't know where I was going. I just needed to get out of the house. It was just too suffocating there."

"Come on in." Caleb opened the door farther and Ryan preceded him into the house.

* * *

><p>Sandy and Kirsten were frantic with worry when they got back to the house and were met with Rosa coming back inside after checking out in the pool house for Ryan. Kirsten discovered Ryan's cell phone still sitting on his bedside table, so there was no way for them to get a hold of him. Seth arrived home from school and helped them as he called Summer, Luke, and Taylor to see if they had seen them.<p>

"His bike is gone from the garage." Sandy came back inside.

"So he could be anywhere." Kirsten sighed as the phone on the counter started to ring and she picked it up. "Dad, I can't talk right now. Ryan took off and we can't find him."

"He's here." Caleb told her.

"He's over there?" she glanced at Sandy and Seth and they looked at her in shock.

"He showed up a couple hours ago. Said he needed to get out of the house."

"So are you bringing him back now?"  
>"He's eating right now. The maid made him something when she overheard him say that he missed lunch."<p>

"Dad, he has an appointment with his therapist in an hour. It's very important that we get him there for it."

"I'll make sure he's there. I promise."

"Can I at least talk to him? Make sure he's ok?"

"He's shaking his head at that. Just give him a little space, Kiki. I'll make sure he's at his appointment."

"All right. Thank you, dad." Kirsten hung up the phone and sighed.

"Let me get this straight." Seth spoke up. "Ryan runs away from here, and goes to grandpa's?"

"Apparently." Kirsten looked at them. "Dad said he needed some space."

"That's probably true." Seth said. "No offense, but you were a little aggressive with him this morning. I imagine he wants some room to breathe after he found out that you know what happened to him."

"You're probably right, son." Sandy looked at him. "But it's not like there's a parent handbook to help us deal with something like this."

"Look, my dad said he'd have him at Dr. Freedman's in time for his appointment." Kirsten told them. "Let's just cool it until then."

* * *

><p>Ryan sat on a barstool at the counter in Caleb's kitchen as his maid fussed over him non-stop. She had made him some tomato soup and grilled cheese sandwiches. He kept telling her that he wasn't that hungry, but she insisted that he eat it all.<p>

"Were they mad?" Ryan looked at Caleb as he hung up his phone.

"I think they were more worried than mad." He told him. "So tell me why you decided to come here when you left."

"I didn't know where I was going when I left. I was just riding around on my bike. Then I suddenly found myself in your driveway."

"I don't mind you being here, but why did you leave?"

"It's too suffocating in that house. Every time I turn around, one of them is there asking me if I want to talk. Or they're watching me like a hawk for signs that I may need anti-depressants. I like my space, but I don't have it anymore."

"Understandable, but why come here? After that last supper at your place, I know how you feel about me."

"Yeah. Sorry about that. I figured I had to act that way considering…"

"Considering what?"

"Considering you knew what happened to me."

"You thought I would tell Kirsten what happened to you?"

"She is your daughter."

"I don't tell my daughter everything, and she probably doesn't tell me everything."

"So why did you keep my secret?"

"I'm not really sure. I guess a part of me wanted to make up for how I treated you all those months."

"You had reason to sometimes. I mean, I did burn down one of your model homes."

"From what I hear, that wasn't all on you. Seth and Marissa shouldn't have taken you there, and that Ward kid shouldn't have fought with you and almost left you for dead."

"Seth and Marissa thought they were helping."

"Well, I would like to know that you're getting help now. You have an appointment with you therapist in a while."

"I should've expected that. Sandy and Kirsten think that's the answer to everything. I don't like talking to strangers about my problems."

"Maybe you need this. This guy is a professional. He knows how to help people in your situation."

"I don't know how to talk to him about this."

"One advantage is that he's still a relative stranger to you."

"I guess." He shrugged.

* * *

><p>Kirsten was pacing the waiting area of Dr. Freedman's office waiting for her dad to arrive with Ryan. Seth and Sandy were sitting in a couple chairs looking through some magazines as they kept glancing at her and the entrance to the office.<p>

"Kirsten, calm down." Sandy told her. "You dad said he'd bring him in time, and he will."

"There they are." Seth looked up as he saw his grandpa coming into the office followed by Ryan.

"Thank goodness." Kirsten went to Ryan and hugged him tightly.

"You knew where I was." He mumbled. "Is he ready for me yet?"

"You have a few minutes." Sandy told him.

"Why are you all here? Usually it's just Sandy that stays."

"Your session is going to be a little longer today." Sandy informed him.

"Why?"

"After your normal session, we're all going to join you for a family session."

"What?"

"Dr. Freedman is not going to reveal anything you don't want him to. We're just going to start working on things as a family." Ryan nodded as the door opened and the receptionist called him back.

They all watched Ryan slowly make his way back and walk into the doctor's office. They were all silent for a while, until Caleb finally spoke up.

"Well, I did what I said I would." He told them. "I guess I should go."

"Dad, actually we would like you to stay." Kirsten told him. "The doctor agrees that you should sit in on the family session."

"You want me to sit in with you guys?" he looked at them astonished.

"Ryan, for some reason, is closer to you than us right now. I think it would be beneficial to the both of you if you're going to continue to hang out."

"All right." He sat down beside Seth and glanced around.

"So he looked better than he did this morning." Sandy observed. "Do you mind telling us what you talked to him about?"

"Just that he feels suffocated in that house." He told them. "He said that every time he enters a room, one of you is always there; looking for signs that he's depressed or asking him if he wants to talk. He likes his space."

"I told you so." Seth looked at them over the top of the magazine.

"I guess we do need to scale back on our helpfulness." Sandy sighed. "But we have no idea how to help him with this."

"Just leave him be for now. Give him a chance to come to you. I think he will eventually." Caleb assured them.

"Did he at least eat while he was at your place?" Kirsten asked.

"Actually he did. He even had seconds and thirds."

"What did he have?"

"The maid made him up some tomato soup and grilled cheese sandwiches. She took an instant liking to him. She yelled at me for treating him so badly when he first came to town."

"At least he ate." Kirsten sighed.

* * *

><p>Ryan sat silently in Dr. Freedman's office. Instead of sitting in his normal spot on the couch, he was sitting in the chair near the couch with it turned so the doctor could only see the back of his head.<p>

"Come on, Ryan. You need to start talking." Dr. Freedman urged him.

"I'm not talking about what happened, and you can't make me." He stated, still not looking at the doctor.

"I'm not asking you to describe it. I just want to know what you're feeling right now."

"Fine." Ryan sighed. "I feel like this whole thing is all my fault."

"Now why would you think that?"

"If I hadn't gotten into all that trouble at school, I wouldn't have been sent to that place, and that never would've happened to me."

"So it's not the guards' fault at all? Were they not the ones to do this act to you?"

"Yes. But if I hadn't been so obsessed with proving that Oliver was so unstable-"

"But he was unstable, wasn't he?"

"Yes, but-"

"But your actions were founded, right?"

"I guess."

"There's no guessing about it. Oliver was dangerous, right? He proved that by trying to kill himself in that hotel room."

"Yes, he was dangerous!" Ryan burst out.

"So whose fault was it that this happened to you?"

"Fine. It was the guards' fault, not mine! Ok?"

"Good. We're finally getting somewhere." Dr. Freedman scribbled on his notepad.

* * *

><p>Everyone else was sitting restlessly in the waiting area; they either kept getting up to pace, or they started to flip through all the magazines. The door to the back offices finally opened and the receptionist called them back.<p>

"They're ready for you now." She told them and they all stood up and followed her down that hall and into the room where Ryan was waiting with Dr. Freedman.

**AN: **So what'd you all think? About Ryan talking to Rosa in Spanish: I figured that Ryan would know a little bit of Spanish before he came to live with the Cohen's. Since Theresa was his friend and back neighbor, I think he would have to know at least a little bit because of her. And when he started attending Harbor, he would have to take a foreign language and I think it would have to be Spanish. And he would have to know some to be able to converse with Rosa as much as he does. Anyway, PLZ R&R!

**Preview Of Next Chapter: **Ryan's first family therapy session with the Cohen's and Caleb. What do you think will be revealed? Who will get upset? Will anyone walk out? Stay tuned to find out!


	18. Ch 17: Angry Outburst

**AN: **Another chapter for you all. It was really hard to write this one. I didn't want any of them to be too harsh or cruel, so I hope this came out all right. So PLZ R&R!

**Disclaimer: **See earlier chapters.

**Chapter 17: Angry Outburst**

When Seth walked into Dr. Freedman's office, he at first thought that Ryan wasn't there. Then he spotted him facing away from them as he sat in a swivel chair in between the long couch and the chair that the doctor was sitting in.

"It's nice to meet you all." Dr. Freedman greeted them. "If you would all take a seat."

They all slowly sat on the long couch across from both Ryan and the doctor and waited for Dr. Freedman to start.

"I'd like to give Ryan a little bit of break from talking right now. He's had a big breakthrough, which I won't tell you about. Ryan can later if he's up to it."

"OK. So what do we do here?" Caleb inquired.

"First, I would like all of you to take turns telling me how you met Ryan and what your first impression was of him. Whoever would like to begin..."

"I guess I'll start." Sandy started. "I met Ryan in lockup in Chino. I received all the information on the case that morning. He was caught stealing a car with his older brother. It was his first offense, but his brother had priors and drugs on him as well as a gun. My first thought was that he was very guarded."

"How do you mean?" Dr. Freedman asked him.

"He didn't talk; just gave me a couple of long stares, and looked at me like I was from another planet. His school records were in his file. I noticed his high test scores and told him that he should start thinking about his future. He gave me this speech about social security and how he didn't want to commit to anything too soon. Needless to say, he left quite an impression on me."

"As I understand it, you gave him your business card before he left with his mom. Why?"

"There was just something about him. I grew up like he did. I figured he would need some help eventually." Sandy glanced towards Ryan to see if there was any reaction from him yet. "He ended up calling me not that long after I got him out of lockup. His mother had thrown him out and he had gotten into a fight with his mother's boyfriend."

"And by fight you mean?"

"He means fist fight." Ryan spat as he spun around to face the doctor. "But you already knew that. You have all the information in that file before you."

"You're right. I do. I just want to hear it in their own words though, Ryan."

"Whatever." Ryan spun away from him again as Dr. Freedman focused his attention back on the Cohen's.

"OK. Please go on, Mr. Cohen."

"So I drive back down to Chino and pick him up by a pay phone. He's just sitting on this stone ledge with a beat-up old bike beside him. I get his things in my car and I drive him back to the house. I ask him to wait in the car while I talk to Kirsten about what happened. She was still at work when I got the call from Ryan."

"And what was your reaction, Mrs. Cohen?" Dr. Freedman turned his attention to her. "What were you thinking when he told you about Ryan?"

"My first reaction was disbelief." Kirsten told him. "He's worked with the PD's office fro so long, but he's never been compelled to bring any of his clients home. My next thought was that I needed to protect my son from him."

"Why would you need to protect him?"

"I knew where he was from and I knew what that town was like. I was afraid that he would try to hurt Seth in some way."

"That's why she had me put in the pool house." Ryan mumbled. "Because she was afraid I would try to steal from them or hurt them while they were all sleeping."

"I may have thought that when I first met him, but my opinion changed less than a week later."

"I met him for the first time the next morning." Seth quickly jumped in. "I was playing video games when he wandered into the house."

"What did you think when you first saw him?" Dr. Freedman turned to him.

"He was different from every other teenager in this town; in a good way."

"How do you mean?"

"He most likely had more important things that he would rather be doing, but he still wanted to hang out with me and play video games or go sailing."

"And I understand that you hid him out in one of your Mother's model homes when he tried to run away so he wouldn't have to go to foster care?"

"Not one of my better ideas." Seth mumbled. "Since he almost died when it started on fire."

"At least you were willing to help me." Ryan turned to face Seth. "You didn't just want to cast me to the side so you could forget that I existed."

"Mr. Nichol," Dr. Freedman turned to Caleb as Ryan turned his chair back around. "You met Ryan when?"

"It was a couple weeks after my daughter decided to make him a part of her family. I was out of the country when he started coming around."

"And what did you think of him?"

"Truthfully, I didn't like him before I met him. I heard that he burned down the model home and knew that he was bad news."

"So what changed your mind?"

"At some point, my opinion of him changed. I had been trying to engage in some kind of conversation with him whenever we were in the same room, but he wouldn't have any of it; not that I blamed him. Then I heard that he was sent away and I did everything I could to try to get him out of there and back to my daughter and her family."

"OK., Ryan. It's your turn now." Dr. Freedman looked at him. "I want you to turn around and face all of them. Tell me what your first impression was of all of them and how you feel about them now."

Ryan slowly turned his chair around and glanced at them all before looking down at his lap. They all waited for him to start, but he refused.

"Let's start with Sandy. What did you think of him?" they all heard him mumble under his breath, but didn't hear what he said. "Speak up, please."

"I said he was just my do-gooder lawyer who wanted to prove that he wasn't like the rest of the snobs in this town." Ryan stated as he looked at Sandy. "When I first met him, he claimed that we were the same. But we aren't the same."

"Go on and elaborate. Speak directly to Sandy if you will."

"You said we were cut from the same deck, but that's the farthest thing from the truth." Ryan told Sandy. "Your dad wasn't around, yes. But he walked out on you; mine was sent away. Your mom wasn't around, that's true. But she threw herself into her work; mine threw herself into a bottle. These are very huge differences between you and me."

"I suppose that's true." Sandy agreed with him.

"Keep going, Ryan." Dr. Freedman encouraged him.

"Well when I first met Seth, I thought he was a little weird." he glanced at Seth. "No offense, man."

"None taken." Seth assured him.

"I was a felon and you still wanted to hang out with me. I couldn't understand why, but I eventually accepted all of your quirks. And we eventually became best friends. No matter how much he rambles about pointless things, I look forward to hanging out with him everyday."

"Good. Keep going."

"Well, I tried to get along with Mr. Nichol." Ryan stated. "But he made it very hard, so I just stopped acknowledging him."

"I'm trying to make up for that now." Caleb spoke up. "My actions may have not been the best, but my intentions were well-meaning."

"Ryan, I noticed that you skipped over Kirsten," Dr. Freedman acknowledged. "What was your first impression of Kirsten?"

"I can't say it. It's too horrible." Ryan mumbled, lowering his head as his eyes shifted down to his jeans.

"It's ok, Ryan." Kirsten assured him. "My first thoughts of you weren't very nice, either. You don't think those things now, do you?"

"No." he glanced up at her briefly before looking down again.

"So go ahead. I promise that I'll try not to be upset."

"I thought you were a stuck-up bitch," Ryan blurted out before abruptly turning his chair around.

"It's ok, Ryan." Kirsten assured him. "You said you don't feel like that now, right?"

"Yeah." Ryan whispered.

"It's fine." Kirsten got up and turned his chair around, but Ryan refused to look at any of them. "I don't hold it against you."

"Mom," Seth warned her as he saw the look on Ryan's face. "I'd back off a little if I were you."

"Why?" Kirsten looked back at him.

"Would you like to know what I hold against you?" Ryan spat out as he finally looked up at her and she sat back down beside Sandy.

"Ryan-" Dr. Freedman cautioned.

"It's ok. Let him get this out." Kirsten told the doctor before looking back at Ryan. "What do you hold against me?"

"I hold against you the fact that you didn't like me before you even met me face-to-face." Ryan stated. "You just knew me as Sandy's client. You knew where he met me, so you didn't like me."

"Ryan-" Kirsten started.

"Let him finish." Sandy told her. "Go on, kid."

"And then you met me in person, saw the bruises, and thought that all your assumptions were true. You never asked where they came from or how I got them. In fact, none of you asked me why I decided to go with Trey that night; except for Seth. He knows and he kept it a secret, which I'm glad he did that for me."

"I wasn't going to betray your trust." Seth told him.

"OK. So tell us now." Sandy spoke up. "Why did you decide to go with your brother that night when he stole that car?"

"I went because-" Ryan started to shake. "Because I wanted one full night where I wasn't getting my ass kicked!"

They were all quiet as Ryan's words sunk in. Ryan was now glaring at them all as he fought to stay in control of his emotions. Finally, he jumped out of the chair and bolted for the door.

"Ryan, don't go." Sandy stood up to try to stop him.

"I need to get out of here." Ryan yanked his arm out of Sandy's grasp. "I'll see you back at the house. I promise."

"Sandy, let him go." Kirsten told him. "We'll see you at home, ok Ryan?"

"Fine." Ryan opened the door and rushed out.

"I think I'll go after him." Caleb stood up and followed Ryan out.

"I'm going to go as well." Seth stood up. "Play mediator if I have to."

"Oh my god." Kirsten sighed. "That was just horrible."

"Believe it or not, this was a good session." Dr. Freedman told them. "This is what we want."

"I'm sorry, but how was this a good session?" Sandy asked as he held Kirsten. "How is that angry outburst a good thing?"

"Because he's starting to communicate with all of you; which is what we're all striving for."

* * *

><p>Seth was pacing the waiting area when his parents finally emerged from Dr. Freedman's office. They noticed that Ryan and Caleb were both missing.<p>

"Where's your grandfather?" Sandy asked him.

"He went home. He tried to give Ryan a ride home, but he refused. He just got his bike from Grandpa's trunk and took off on it."

"Well, let's pick up some supper and go home." Kirsten told them and they all walked out to the parking lot.

**AN: **So what'd you all think? Good or bad? Next chapter, the aftermath. PLZ R&R!

On a side note, I started posting a story on a website called Wattpad. If any of you are interested in reading a non-fanfiction story thatI've written, let me know and I'll send you the link.


	19. Ch 18: A Little Confiding

**AN: **Another chapter for all of you loyal readers out there. It was a little difficult writing this one as well, but I hope that you like it. PLZ R&R!

**Disclaimer: **See earlier chapters.

**Chapter 18: A Little Confiding**

Ryan pedaled furiously away from the doctor's office after the confrontation with Kirsten. As soon as he ran out of the building, he pulled his bike from Caleb's trunk and started away from the parking lot. Sooner than he wanted to, he was coasting up the Cohen driveway and parking his bike in the garage. He walked through the door and was met by Rosa.

"Ryan-" she started to approach him.

"I'm not in the mood." he told her fiercely. "I've had a very bad day."

"I just wanted to say that I understand why you ran off today. I'm not saying that I'm apologizing for what happened today since I was only doing it for your own good, but I am sorry for crowding you."

"Noted." Ryan stormed up the stairs and slammed his bedroom door behind him.

He started pacing the space between the bed and the window as he thought about what all was said during therapy. He couldn't believe he had revealed all that in his session; especially in front of the Cohen's and Mr. Nichol. What would they say when they all got home? They wouldn't throw him out of the house because of what he said, would they? Everyone else didn't seem too upset by what he said about them, but he knew Kirsten was upset about what he said. He couldn't believe that he had just shouted it at her, but she and Dr. Freedman kept pushing him until he finally exploded.

He stopped pacing when he heard the door open downstairs and Sandy and Kirsten's voices drifted up to him. He quickly sat down on the bed and pulled one of his school books out as he heard footsteps on the stairs.

"Ryan," he heard Seth's voice. "Mom and dad sent me up to make sure that you're still here."

"I'm fine, Seth." he called.

"Do you want to set up the Playstation before supper?"

"I'd really like to be alone right now, Seth."

"Got it." he heard his retreating footsteps and sighed with relief.

A little while later, there was a soft knock at his door, and knew that it was most likely Kirsten checking up on him.

"I'm studying." he called out.

"I brought you up some supper." he heard Kirsten say softly. "I'll just leave it out here for you when you're ready for it."

"Thank you." he heard her set the tray down and her retreating footsteps.

Kirsten walked back into the kitchen as Seth brought some glasses over to the table for the three of them.

"How'd it go?" Sandy looked back at her.

"He said he was studying." she told them. "I know it's just a lame excuse so that he can avoid us."

"He's probably a little ashamed after therapy. We'll give him the night, and talk to him about it tomorrow."

"Agreed." Kirsten sighed. "So what's going on with you, Seth?"

"Why?" he looked up at her.

"Because I want to know what's going on with you. I feel like we don't know what's going on in your life."

"Not much." Seth shrugged. "Just Summer and I are going to the movies tomorrow night. We were going to see if Ryan wanted to come along. Summer was going to invite Taylor and just 'see what happens'."

"I'm not sure if Ryan will be up for that tomorrow night." Sandy told him.

"I know." Seth sighed.

They all finished eating and cleaned up and packed up all the leftovers in the refrigerator. Seth went to play some video games as he talked to Summer on his cell phone before he went to bed, Sandy went upstairs and returned with Ryan's tray which both Sandy and Kirsten were happy to see that it was more than halfway gone. Sandy then went to do some work in his office.

Kirsten tried to do some work as well, but couldn't concentrate. She checked on Seth and Sandy and found them both doing the same thing they were doing a couple hours before. She debated whether or not to peek in on Ryan, but in the end she threw caution to the wind and climbed the stairs up to his room. She slowly approached his door and softly knocked on his door. She got no response, but decided to go in anyway to see how he was doing.

She peeked into the room and realized the lights were out. She cautiously walked further into the room and saw a lump under the covers. Then she saw some jerky movements as Ryan bolted up and looked around in confusion.

"Kirsten?" he spotted her silhouette standing in his doorway.

"Sorry. I didn't mean to wake you."

"I don't think you did." he rubbed his eyes.

"I know you said you didn't want to be disturbed. I was just checking on you. I do it every night. Not only to you, to Seth as well. I promise."

"It's ok. I believe you." Ryan said softly.

"I'll just go now. Good night, Sweetie."

"Kirsten, wait!" Ryan called out as she started to walk back out of the room.

"What's the matter?" she flipped on the small lamp and saw that there were tear tracks on his face. "Are you ok?"

"I don't know." he started to shake.

"Did you have a bad dream again?" she slowly sat on the edge of his bed.

"Yeah. I think so." he took a deep breath.

"I'm not really sure what to do here." Kirsten admitted. "What would you like me to do?"

"C-Could you just sit with me or something?" Ryan turned his head to look at her. "Or at least stay until I can fall back asleep?"

"Sure. I can do that." she smiled at him as she realized this was the most vulnerable she's ever seen Ryan.

"Just no talking about-"

"No talking." she promised him.

Ryan lay back down on the bed and turned over on his left side facing the window as he made room for Kirsten to sit beside him comfortably. They had been quiet for almost ten minutes before Kirsten decided to break the silence between them.

"I know you don't want me to talk, but can I ask you something?" she reached out to touch his shoulder as she felt him tense up. "Not about that. Or about the session today."

"Ok. What?" he asked, not turning over to face her.

"Why did you leave the lunch tray here untouched, but you didn't mind taking seconds and thirds of what my father's maid fixed you?"

"Part of it was because I just wanted to get out of this house. And his maid wouldn't take no for an answer; in some ways, she's worst than Rosa."

"And the other part?"

"It was comfort food for me." he mumbled.

"Grilled cheese sandwiches and tomato soup is comfort food?"

"I know that you found out about the incident when I was younger as well." he sighed. "Trey found out about it. He didn't let on that he knew, but I know that he did. That was the meal he would make me when he sensed that I was thinking about it."

"I thought you said that Trey never thought about you."

"That was after we moved out of Fresno. This incident happened not long after my dad was sent to prison. It was one of my mom's losers that she brought home. It was the only thing that Trey knew how to make. Sure the bread was hard as a rock and the soup tasted like tomato paste because we had to get the off-brand and almost-expired stuff, but that's the good thing that Trey did for me."

"I understand now." Kirsten started to slowly rub his back as they lapsed into silence again.

"Hey, Kirsten?" Ryan asked after another fifteen minutes.

"Yes?"

"I'm sorry."

"For what?"

"For what I said in the session today."

"I'm not mad at you for that. And I'm not going to hold it against you."

"Why not?"

"That was more than seven months ago. I'm pretty sure we don't all feel that way now. I know I don't think of you that way now. You're a part of this family; hopefully soon, you'll be a permanent member of this family."

"How's it going with trying to find my mom?"

"Sandy and Rachel have their PI's looking for her. I'm sure they'll find her."

"Can I still go to the batting cages with Luke tomorrow?" Ryan quickly changed the subject.

"Sure. As long as you get plenty of sleep; and you eat a decent breakfast before you leave."

"Deal." Ryan said softly as they got quiet once again.

More than a half hour later, Kirsten quietly walked out of Ryan's room silently closing the door behind her. She turned around to head back downstairs when she spotted Seth and Sandy stationed right by Ryan's room sitting on the floor as they played a game of cards.

"What are you doing?" she asked them.

"Waiting to see how it went in there." Seth told her.

"We realized you weren't on the bottom floor of the house awhile ago." Sandy told her. "We realized you were probably up here so we came to check it out."

"We heard you guys talking, and decided to wait for you to come out."

"So what happened?" Sandy asked as she sat down with them. "Why'd he suddenly decide to let you into his room?"

"I think he had another bad dream about that place." she told them. "I went in to check on him, and he didn't want me to leave. So I stayed with him until he fell back asleep."

"Did he say anything?"

"He apologized for the session earlier." she told them. "I think he thought we were mad at him for what he said. More specifically, he thought I was mad at him."

"What else did he say?"

"He just wanted to make sure that he could still go to the batting cages tomorrow."

"Well if that's all, I'm going to bed." Seth stood up and walked to his bedroom.

"Tell Summer we said good night, son." Sandy called after him.

"Come on." Kirsten pulled Sandy up. "Let's go to bed, too."

"What's really going on?" Sandy asked her once they had gotten to their bedroom. "What didn't you want to say in front of Seth?"

"I think we should try to get Trey's help." she told him.

"What?"

"I think Trey will want to help us keep Ryan with us permanently." she explained to him. "Ryan told me this story about Trey when he was younger. I think it's the only good story he has of him. I think we can get Trey on our side. He told Ryan on Thanksgiving that he wanted him to have a good life."

"Yes, he did." Sandy sighed. "Ok. I'll call down there tomorrow and see when he can have visitors."

"Thank you." Kirsten kissed his cheek.

"Like I really have a choice. You always get your way when it comes to this kind of thing." he smiled at her. "Not that I'm complaining right now. You're the only one that Ryan will even attempt to confide in."

"Baby steps, honey. It's going to take some time."

"I know." he sighed as they started to get ready for bed.

* * *

><p>The next morning, Kirsten overslept and walked into the kitchen as she saw Seth and Ryan sitting at the counter as they finished their bagels and glasses of orange juice. They were talking quietly with each other and looked up at her startled as she shuffled to the coffee maker and poured herself a cup.<p>

"Finally," Seth stated. "We were waiting for you to wake up so we could ask to borrow the Rover today."

"Where's your father?" she turned around to face them.

"Surfing." Ryan told her. "So can we borrow the Rover?"

"I thought you were going to the batting cages today."

"We are. I convinced Seth to come along and to invite Summer."

"And I told Ryan to invite Taylor." Seth added. "So are we borrowing the car or not?"

"Here." Kirsten gave Ryan the spare set of keys. "How much did you have to eat so far?"

"This is my second bagel."

"I can vouch for him." Seth told her.

"I'm glad you're starting to get your appetite back." she smiled at him.

"I'm going to go call Summer." Seth started upstairs.

"I need to find my gear." Ryan got up from the counter as well. "And make sure that Luke can come today."

* * *

><p>Ryan and Seth were rushing out the door as Sandy was coming back inside with his surf board. They ran past him and scrambled into the Rover and pulled out of the driveway as Sandy put his board away.<p>

"They're sure in a hurry to get to the batting cages." Sandy met Kirsten in the kitchen.

"I think that Summer and Taylor are supposed to meet them there." she told him as she looked up from the paper. "Now why don't you tell me what's wrong?"

"What do you mean?" he poured himself a cup of coffee.

"Sandy, I know you. Now what's going on?"

"I just got a call from Rachel." he sighed.

"Ok. What about?"

"About Dawn." he told her. "We have a problem."

**AN: **So what'd you all think? What do you think the bad news about Dawn will be? Will Trey help them? Review and find out. PLZ R&R!


	20. Ch 19: Breaking News

**AN: **Another chapter for you all. It's getting harder and harder to write this story, but I am determined to finish this. So PLZ R&R!

**Disclaimer: **See earlier chapters.

**Chapter 19: Breaking News**

"What's going on, Sandy?" Kirsten got up from the table and joined him at the counter.

"Well, Rachel's PI found Dawn. She was in Texas." he sighed. "We gave her a copy of the paperwork we had drawn up. As soon as she saw what they were, she flipped out. She says that she's not giving up Ryan under any circumstances."

"Oh, boy." Kirsten sighed. "So what now?"

"Rachel's already scheduled a court date for next week. Hopefully, we'll be able to get her rights revoked and we'll be well on our way to adopting Ryan."

"Is there a chance that her rights won't be revoked?"

"There's always a chance." he told her. "But we'll use everything we have to get her rights revoked."

"We need to talk to Ryan about all of this first." Kirsten reminded him. "He'll never forgive us if we just go in there and try to-"

"I know, honey." he went around to the other side and held her. "I have some worst news, I'm afraid."

"What else?" she looked at him.

"Well, when your father got that facility shut down, the authorities got involved." he started. "The DA has been building a pretty good case for weeks now."

"What does that mean exactly?"

"It means that they're trying to track down every former resident of that awful place to try to talk them into testifying."

"Oh, god. They want Ryan to testify in open court?" she demanded. "They are going to force him to relive those moments over and over again, as our hard work the last few weeks goes up in smoke?"

"Pretty much." he sighed. "I was just informed today."

"I can't believe this." she sighed.

"We'll figure out a way to tell Ryan when he gets home." Sandy told her. "As for right now, I have a phone call to make."

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Seth and Summer sat on a bench before the batting cages as they waited for Luke to arrive. Seth glanced a little distance away as he saw Ryan talking with Taylor.

"That sure looks like an intense conversation." Summer commented.

"Yeah. It does." he mumbled.

"You know what they're talking about, don't you?" she looked at him.

"Maybe."

"So what are they talking about?"

"I'm sorry. I can't tell you. I promised my parents. If Ryan wants you to know, he can be the one to tell you."

"Ok. I understand." she took his hand and squeezed it tightly. "I know you worry about him a lot, but I'm positive that you'll get back to the way you guys were."

"I really hope so."

Ryan finally stopped talking and shot a nervous glance at Taylor as she continued to be strangely quiet. Finally, she looked over at him and offered him a small smile.

"I knew you weren't telling me everything," she started. "I never imagined it would be something like this, but I'm glad you felt comfortable enough to tell me. And I promise that no one will hear a word of this from me."

"And?" he looked at her.

"And what?"

"And how do you think of me now?"

"I think of you the same as I did before." she told him. "In fact, I think you're a lot stronger than I thought you were. Because only a very strong person could get through what you have more than once."

"You really think so?"

"Of course."

"Hey." they looked up as Luke approached them with all his gear. "Are we going to do this or not?"

"Yeah. Let's go." Ryan picked up his bag of gear and followed Luke into one of the cages as they took turns swinging and Taylor sat with Seth and Summer as they all watched on in amazement.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX XX

Sandy climbed out of the car and adjusted his back after the hour-long drive to Chino. He walked into the prison and checked in with the bailiff. He was directed to the visitor's yard where he was told that he would find Trey. He found him sitting off by himself at one of the tables with his hands folded in front of him.

"Trey Atwood?" Sandy approached him.

"Who wants to know?" he regarded him with a hooded look; not unlike the one Ryan had when he first met Sandy as well.

"I'm Sandy Cohen, Ryan's legal guardian at the moment."

"Is he ok?" Trey immediately let his guard down as Sandy sat before him.

"At the moment." Sandy sighed.

"What's the mean? Is he in trouble or something?"

"I'm just going to cut to the chase. Something happened a few weeks ago that made us realize how much Ryan means to my family, so we're currently taking the steps to make him a permanent part of our family. But we're going to need your help with that if you're willing."

"How can I help?"

"Well, we've already gotten your father to sign over his rights. But your mother is not going to make it very easy. She's not giving Ryan up without a fight."

"So how can I help?"

"There's going to be a court hearing where a judge will determine if Dawn will have her rights taken away. I think if the judge hears your side as well, then we'll have a chance to give Ryan a better life than he's had up until now."

"If you think they'll listen to me, I'll do it." Trey told him. "But why is it so important that you do this so fast? What happened to Ryan that made you decide to rush this along?"

"The same thing that happened to him when he was a kid. Not long after your father was sent to prison." Sandy sighed deeply.

"What? It happened again? How could you let that happen to him?" Trey started to raise his voice until he saw a guard approach them. "You were supposed to be good people. This wasn't supposed to happen under your watch. He was supposed to have a better life than he's had so far."

"Believe me, my wife and I have beaten ourselves up over this since it was revealed. We're trying to get Ryan to cope with this-"

"He's not going to want to cope with it. He never wanted to when it happened before."

"We figured that." Sandy sighed.

"But if you need my help, I'll do whatever I'm able to for my brother."

"For right now, all we need is your statement when we go to court to get Dawn's rights taken away."

"Just tell me what I have to do." Trey told him and Sandy took some papers out of his briefcase.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX XX

After Ryan and Luke spent a couple hours hitting baseballs, they all decided to get some lunch. After they finished eating Luke had to go home, so the remaining four went to see a movie. Ryan seemed to relax with not only Taylor, but Summer as well as the day went on. They all finally called it a night around ten o'clock and Ryan and Seth started for home.

Kirsten and Sandy were waiting for them when they finally made it back home. They were relieved to see Ryan joking with Seth as they walked in, meaning that he had a good time that day.

"Hey, fellas." Sandy greeted them. "Did you have a good time today?"

"Yeah." Ryan looked at them.

"What's going on?" Seth looked at their serious faces.

"Seth, we need to talk to Ryan alone." Kirsten told him. "Would you please go upstairs and not listen at the top of the stairs?"

"Ok." he gave Ryan a look as he left the room and they heard him ascending the stairs.

"What's going on?" Ryan echoed Seth's question once he was sure that he was upstairs.

"Sit down, please." Sandy told him and he took a seat at one of the bar stools at the counter. "I'm not going to sugar-coat any of this for you. We were able to locate your mother. She's in Texas. Rachel showed her the papers that we want her to sign-"

"And she refused." Ryan finished for him, surprising them both. "I didn't really expect it to be so easy with her. My dad didn't really have a choice, he'll be in lockup until after I'm out of school."

"The next step would be for us to get her rights revoked in a court hearing."

"Oh."

"What we want to know, is if you really want this." Kirsten spoke up. "We want to very much make you a permanent part of this family, but if you're having any doubts at all now is the time to speak up."

"She's my mom." Ryan said simply. "She gave me life, but that's as far as it went. She never did anything for me unless she got something out of it too. So I want you both to adopt me. If that means that we'll have to revoke her rights, then I will testify if I have to."

"Ok. I'll take the first steps on Monday." Sandy assured him.

"So can I go now? I'm sure Seth is bouncing off the walls up there waiting for me to come up and tell him what happened down here."

"Actually, there's more." Sandy sighed. "It's not the best news, and we're not sure how you'll take it."

"What is it?"

"When my father got you out of that place and shut it down, it raised a few eyebrows." Kirsten told him. "People started asking questions, and the authorities have been investigating it."

"What's that mean?" Ryan looked at them.

"When they found out what had been happening inside that place, they started tracking down all the former residents to see if they'd be willing to give statements against everyone that worked in that place."

"So what? I have to give a written statement?"

"Well, there's going to be a court date." Sandy started.

"Wait. I have to describe what happened in open court?" Ryan said softly.

"Not if you don't want to." Kirsten rushed to assure him. "We will not force you to relive it if you don't want to do this."

"But if I can make a suggestion; If it was me, I wouldn't want them to get away with it. I'd want to make it so that this doesn't happen to anyone else put in the same situation."

"Yeah. I guess you're right." Ryan mumbled.

"But you don't have to make a decision about this right now." Kirsten told him. "Think about it for awhile, and tell us when you make a final decision."

"Ok."

"Go on upstairs if you want. That's all we wanted to tell you."

"Thanks." Ryan slowly walked out of the room and started upstairs.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX XXXXX

Two am found Ryan having another nightmare. This one was a lot more vivid than all the others. He heard every little sound; the booted footsteps of the guards as they walked down the hall when they did bed checks, the creaking of the door as it opened, the groaning of the mattress.

Ryan bolted out of bed and started to make his way downstairs like he always did after one of these dreams. He started to go into the kitchen, but stopped when he realized that he wasn't the only one awake at the moment. Kirsten was set up at the table with a bunch of papers all around her as she made some notes.

"Ryan?" she looked up at him as he stood in the doorway, deciding if he really wanted to take the risk of coming in. "What are you doing up?"

"Couldn't sleep." he mumbled as he went to the sink and got a glass of water. "You're doing work now?"

"New contracts." she watched him as he finished the glass of water and put it back in the sink.

"I-I'm just going to watch some TV until I get sleepy again." he told her.

"Ok." she watched as he went into the den, turned on the TV, and lay down across the couch.

Ryan had only been laying there for about five minutes when he heard a noise and a few moments later, Kirsten sat at the end of the couch near his head.

"What-" he looked up at her.

"I need to get sleepy, too."

"Kirsten-"

"I know you had another nightmare, Ryan." she told him. "Sandy and I were expecting it after all the news we had to tell you earlier."

"I'll be fine. I'll handle it myself like I always do." he mumbled.

"You shouldn't have to handle something like this by yourself." she explained to him. "So Sandy and I want you to go to a meeting."

"What kind of meeting?"

"It's a support group; with other people who have experienced the same thing you have."

"I don't want to."

"Three sessions, is all we're asking. If you're not comfortable with it, then you don't have to go back after those three sessions."

"No cross-examination from either of you?"

"No. You share with us what you're comfortable sharing with us."

"Ok. Three sessions." he agreed.

"Good. There's one tomorrow afternoon."

"You mean, this afternoon?"

"I guess so." Kirsten looked at her watch.

After that, they were both quiet. They settled in to watch an old black and white movie that was so cheesy they were both laughing throughout the entire thing.

**AN: **So what'd you all think? I know in this chapter, Ryan seems a little out of character especially with the talking and opening up. But I believe that the therapist is good and Ryan realizes that it's not so good to keep everything bottled up inside. Hopefully, the next chapters will be a little more angst-ridden and explain a few more things for all of you. Anyway, PLZ R&R!

Again to anyone that's interested, I do have a story going on fictionpress as well. It's not fanfiction in any way, but it has three chapters posted and I would love your guys' feedback on it as well as this one. My username is the same as the one I use on here. Also, I'd like it if you joined my livejournal community. My username on there is bobbiejod1.


	21. Ch 20: Old Friends

**AN: **I know that it's been awhile since I posted to this story, but I've had a bit of writer's block. Plus, things are starting to get crazy-busy for me with the holidays coming up. I know that it's a little late, but I just wanted to tell everyone Happy Thanksgiving. I hope everyone had a good day. Anyway, please leave some reviews. They make me very happy. Thnx!

**Disclaimer: **See earlier chapters.

**Chapter 20: Old Friends**

Ryan lay back as he aimlessly floated in the pool. He had his eyes closed as he took advantage of all the quiet. Seth didn't know that he was back home yet so he could just float about without him disturbing the much-needed quiet time. He definitely needed some time to himself after the day that he had so far already.

Kirsten and Sandy had dragged him to his first support group meeting. He hadn't spoken out loud about what he had gone through, but he listened to all the other stories. Yes, some of them were pretty horrible, but he didn't think that this group was for him. Besides, he knew that Sandy, Kirsten, and the rest of the group members' families were watching the whole thing behind the two-way mirror.

Sandy was trying to talk him into actually speaking at the next meeting, but he didn't think that he would. He wasn't ready to share anything yet. Why couldn't they understand that he just wanted to put it out of his mind? He knew that once he let his guard down and finally unloaded on all of them, that his life would never be the same.

* * *

><p>Kirsten glanced out the kitchen window yet again as she kept a constant vigil over Ryan. He had been very quiet since the group meeting had ended. When they had arrived back at the house, Ryan had gone outside and gotten into the pool. It was obvious that he wanted to be alone, so they forbade Seth from even going outside.<p>

"Is he still out there?" Sandy came up behind her.

"Yeah. Hasn't made an attempt to get out yet."

"He'll be fine." he assured her. "When he finally decides to get out, I do have some good news for him."

"What is it?"

"It's not going to be open court."

"Really?"

"I'm positive."

"So how are they going to do it?"

"Basically, they've scheduled days for each of the victims to come in and make their statements. There will be a closed hearing where all the evidence will be presented and they'll make a decision based on all the evidence."

"That is good news." she smiled as she hugged him tightly.

"Can I go out and see Ryan yet?" Seth came into them.

"Give him a few more minutes." Sandy told him as the doorbell rang.

"I guess I'll get that." Seth mumbled as he walked away.

"I think he's going through Ryan withdrawal." Kirsten chuckled.

"I say we bring Ryan in after five more minutes." Sandy told her as Seth came back. "Who's at the door, son?"

"It's for you." Seth told him. "Says that it's important. It's about the trial."

"Ok." Sandy walked out to the foyer where the group of people-an older couple and two teenage boys-were gathered in front of the door. "Hi. I'm Sandy Cohen. You needed to talk to me."

"Is Ryan here?" one of the boys asked.

"One thing at a time." the older man told him.

"Our boys-"

"You're Alex and Andrew, right?" Sandy looked at the teenagers. "You were Ryan's roommates in that place."

"Yeah. Is he here?"

"He's had a tough morning, but I think he'll want some company." Sandy led them through to the kitchen. "Kirsten, is Ryan still in the pool?"

"He just got out. He's changing in the pool house." she looked up at him as she spotted the group of people coming in behind him.

"This is Alex and Andrew. Ryan's first roommates when he was at that place. And this is Emma and Reggie, their grandparents."

"Nice to meet you all." she smiled at them. "Ryan talked about you quite a bit when he got out of there."

"Can we see him?" one of the boys asked.

"Sure. You can go ahead and wait out on the patio for him." she told them and they rushed outside.

"Why don't we sit down," Sandy spoke to the older couple as he gestured to the table. "Would you like some coffee?"

"That'd be great. Thank you."

"Here we are." Kirsten brought a tray over with four cups of coffee. "So what brings you all here?"

"Well, the boys keep talking about us bringing them here to see Ryan."

"Is there another reason?" Sandy asked them. "Did someone contact you about your grandsons testifying?"

"Yes. We never questioned them about what went on in that facility. We knew something had happened, but we never imagined that it was this bad."

"Ryan has never openly shared anything with us, so you can imagine that he's been very tight-lipped about his time in there. But we have found out a few incidents that have happened."

"We don't need to go into detail." Emma assured them. "But the boys told us that from the moment they met Ryan, they felt that they needed to protect him."

"So none of it happened while your boys were still there?" Kirsten asked.

"I'm sure the verbal and physical abuse happened from the moment your son walked into that building." Reggie told them. "But the other stuff didn't start happening until we took them out of there."

"And Ryan was assigned a new roommate."

"We would never force our grandsons to do something that they're not comfortable doing, but they both said that they felt they had to testify. That them not doing it would mean that someone else could get hurt because of them."

"We're not forcing Ryan to do it either, but he said he'd think about it." Sandy told them.

"Well, we got a hold of someone in the district attorney's office here when the boys made the decision. When they found out that they would have to come down here to Newport to do it, they immediately asked if we could look you guys up so they could come see Ryan."

"It looks they're getting along well." Kirsten looked outside as she saw that Ryan had come out of the pool house to join the others.

* * *

><p>Seth was sitting silently at one of the tables on the patio waiting for Ryan to finish changing so they could finally hang out. He heard the doors behind him open and rolled his eyes as he glanced back, thinking it was one of his parents. He was surprised to see two teenage boys-obviously twins, by the looks of them-scrambling to get outside.<p>

"Hey." they stopped abruptly when they spotted him. "You're Seth, right?"

"Yes. Who are you?" he questioned them.

"I'm Alex Hines. This is my brother, Andrew. We were Ryan's roommates when he first got to that-place."

"Nice to meet you." Seth stood up to greet them. "Ryan should be out any minute now."

"So you're the one that's into comic books, right?" Andrew asked. "Which do you read most often?"

"I guess Legion." Seth replied. "You guys read comics?"

"Religiously." Andrew told him.

"I don't read them as much anymore." Alex told him. "I'm into other things now. Like sports."

"He's a big sports nut." Andrew told Seth. "But he's not like those water polo players that you have run-ins with."

"Ryan told you about that?"

"He didn't think he'd see us again."

"Andrew? Alex?" they all turned around and spotted Ryan coming out of the pool house. "What are you guys doing here?"

"We have an appointment with the DA." Alex told him. "We decided to stop here to see you first."

"You were called about testifying, too?"

"Yeah."

"Hey Ryan, what do you say we show these guys around?" Seth jumped into the conversation. "We can take them down to the pier."

"You guys want to?" Ryan looked at them.

"We'd better ask Grams and Gramps first." Andrew told them and they all headed inside where the adults were gathered around the kitchen table talking as they drank from mugs of coffee.

"Hey, fellas." Sandy greeted them. "Are you guys catching up?"

"Could we take these guys to the pier and show them around?" Seth asked.

"Where on the pier would you go?" Kirsten asked them.

"Lunch at the Crab Shack maybe." Ryan told them.

"And Seth told us about this cool comic book store right down the street from there." Andrew told them.

"All right, but take your cell phones." Sandy told them. "Make sure they're on and that you answer when we call."

"Got it." They all rushed out of the room and the door opening and closing was heard.

"They'll be fine." Sandy assured Emma and Reggie. "Ryan used to work at the Crab Shack and Seth practically lived at the comic book store before Ryan came along."

"It's fine." Reggie assured them. "Andrew's probably ecstatic that he found someone else his age that enjoys comic books as much as he does."

"Truth be told, they haven't really made any friends at their new school. Everyone found out about their parents and where they were before, and they've shunned them."

"Ryan can definitely relate to that." Kirsten told them. "This community was not very welcoming when he first came to town."

* * *

><p>Ryan and Seth led Alex and Andrew down the boardwalk on the pier as they both looked around. Ryan led them all into the Crab Shack and they slid into a booth near the back.<p>

"You guys live here?" Alex looked at them.

"This is so awesome." Andrew added.

"It's not all that great." Seth answered.

"It's better than where I came from, but there are definite downsides to this town." Ryan told them. "Everyone thinks they have the right to judge everyone else."

"But at least you have a place to call home now." Andrew told him. "It's permanent."

"I guess." Ryan mumbled as they placed their orders and waited for it to be prepared and brought out to them.

* * *

><p>After they finished their lunch, they decided to walk down the street to the shopping center and check out the comic book store. Seth and Andrew went to check out all the comics, but Ryan and Alex went to the store next door and started browsing through all the movie titles.<p>

"Hey, Ryan." he heard behind him and sighed.

"What do you want, Marissa?" he turned around to face her.

"I just wanted to know how you're doing."

"I'm fine, no thanks to you and your mother."

"What are you talking about?"

"Never mind." he started to walk away. "I think it would be a good idea if we stayed away from each other permanently. Just don't approach me again. I am way better off without you trying to bring me down with all your drama."

"Ryan-"

"Hey Ryan, are you almost done?" Alex came up to them. "Sorry to interrupt."

"You're not." Ryan told him. "She's no one special."

"Ryan-" Marissa tried again.

"Leave me alone, Marissa. I'm much better off without you in my life."

"So that was Marissa?" Alex asked as they walked out of the store.

"Unfortunately." Ryan mumbled as they walked into the comic book store to retrieve Seth and Andrew.

They were all walking back to the Cohen house when Alex pulled Seth back and told him about the confrontation between Ryan and Marissa in the movie store.

"They've had a few run-ins worst than that since he was released from the unspeakable place." Seth told him.

"Ryan confided something to me when you guys were paying for your new comic books. I'm not sure if I should tell you or not."

"When it comes to Ryan, I'm like Fort Knox. I'll decide if it's worth it to tell my parents."

"All right." Alex leaned in close to Seth and whispered something to him.

"You're serious?" Seth looked up at him.

"Ever since he was released."

"My parents should probably know about it. I'll tell them later tonight."

They all got back to the house and Alex and Andrew had to leave. They would be coming back next weekend when they were scheduled to make their statements. Sandy and Kirsten noticed that Ryan was a little withdrawn and was surprised about it since he seemed so happy when the four teenagers had left the house.

"Are you feeling ok, Ryan?" Sandy asked him.

"Yeah. Just tired." he mumbled.

"Well eat a little more, and you can go up to bed." Kirsten told him and he nodded as he picked at the food on his plate.

Almost an hour later, Ryan helped clear the table and went upstairs to get ready for bed. Sandy and Seth helped Kirsten clean up.

"Ok. We need to know. Did something happen while you guys were out today?" Sandy looked at Seth.

"Alex told me that Ryan had a confrontation with Marissa in the movie store." he told them. "He also told me that Ryan told him something. And I think you guys should know about it."

"What is it?" Kirsten asked.

"Apparently, Julie Cooper has been harassing Ryan since he was released from that place." Seth revealed. "Threatening to send him to a place worse than the one he was in. Ryan told Alex that he thinks that she knows what happened to him in there."

"That woman has gone too far." Kirsten stated.

"Kirsten, calm down." Sandy told her.

"No. She has crossed the line."

"I agree, and we'll take care of it. But keep your voice down unless you want Ryan to overhear us."

"No. You're right." she took a deep breath. "I'm going to check on him."

"Don't let him know-" Seth started to tell her.

"I won't." she assured him as she started up the stairs.

Kirsten got to the top of the staircase and paused outside of Ryan's room as she heard him moving around inside.

"Ryan?" she knocked softly on the door. "Are you decent? Can I come in?"

"Sure." she heard him call and she slowly walked into the room and found him sitting under the covers on the bed holding one of his books for school.

"I just wanted to say good night." she told him. "And to make sure that you're all right."

"I'm fine. Just tired, like I said." he assured her. "But I wanted to get a couple chapters read before school tomorrow."

"So it was nice to meet Andrew and Alex today with their grandparents."

"Yeah."

"If you ever want to invite them down here, or they want you to visit them, we wouldn't mind." she sat beside him on the edge of the bed.

"Thanks. They said they're coming back next weekend so they can give their statements."

"Yes. Sandy said that you don't have to testify in open court. That you'll just give your statement to the DA, and they'll present it as evidence before the judge makes his decision."

"Will you and Sandy be there?" Ryan asked her softly.

"Only if you want us there." she assured him.

"I'll get back to you on that."

"So how did you like the meeting today?"

"It was all right, I guess. I'm just not sure if it's for me."

"Remember, two more sessions. And if you still don't like it, then you don't have to go."

"I know." he sighed as he started to open the book before him.

"I'll let you get to your reading." Kirsten got up off the bed as she started to leave the room. "If you need us, just call."

"All right." he told her as she left the room and he opened his book to where he had left off the last time he had read it.

**AN: **So what'd you all think? Please leave me some reviews. Thnx!


	22. Ch 21: Late-Night Visitor

**AN: **Another chapter for you all. I'm introducing another character to help Ryan through this. Just let me know what you think about all of this. PLZ R&R!

**Disclaimer: **See earlier chapters.

**Chapter 21: Late-Night Visitor**

Everything was quiet in the Cohen house. For once, it seemed that Ryan was able to sleep through the night. Suddenly, there was a loud noise coming from the direction of the kitchen, which roused them all from their deep sleep.

"What was that?" Kirsten sat up.

"Maybe it was Ryan coming downstairs." Sandy told her as they both pulled their robes on and started out the door. "Or not."

Kirsten looked and saw Ryan and Seth slowly creeping down the stairs; Seth in his bathrobe and Ryan in his sweats, both of their hair disheveled.

"What was that?" Seth whispered.

"We were just going to check it out." Sandy told them. "Stay there until we tell you it's safe."

They both nodded as Sandy and Kirsten inched their way towards the kitchen. They got near the kitchen and saw someone crouched on the floor as they heard the clinking of glass. Sandy flipped on the lights and they turned around with a startled look.

"Hailey?" Kirsten came out from behind Sandy. "What are you doing here?"

"Sorry. I was trying not to make noise, but I bumped into the counter and a glass fell to the ground."

"Don't worry about the glass. What are you doing here?"

"Dad was able to track me down. He said that you guys needed all the support you could get right now. He told me what happened with Ryan. After not giving him a fair chance, I figured it was time I got to know my other nephew."

"It's ok, boys! You can come in now!" Sandy called.

"So you know everything about Ryan?" Kirsten looked at her.

"Yeah. Dad told me. He figured I could relate, you know. Give him someone to talk to about it after I've bonded with him a little."

"Just don't mention it to Ryan just yet. He's having a hard enough time as it is right now."

"I promise." she told her as there was some shuffling and Seth and Ryan came in.

"Aunt Hailey?" Seth looked at her shocked. "What are you doing here?"

"What? I can't come see my family?"

"You ever heard of coming during daylight?" Ryan mumbled.

"That's a good question." Sandy told her. "Was it really necessary to wake us all up?"

"I didn't mean to make any noise. I was just going to sneak up to one of the guest rooms and surprise you all in the morning. I figured Ryan would be in the pool house."

"Ryan has his own room in the house now." Kirsten told her. "So you can have the pool house if you want it."

"Or there are two other guest rooms upstairs." Seth spoke up.

"It's ok. I can stay in the pool house." Hailey told them.

"So she can sneak in people and things behind mom's back." Seth whispered to Ryan and he smirked.

"Can we go back to bed now?" Ryan mumbled. "There's time to catch up when we're more conscious."

"He's right. The boys have school tomorrow." Sandy told them all. "Let's get some sleep and we'll see you in a few hours, Hailey."

Ryan slowly went up to his room and fell onto the bed as he tried to get back to sleep. His eyes shot open when he felt that someone was standing behind him.

"It's late. Leave me alone until the morning." he grumbled and he heard them retreat as fell back to sleep.

* * *

><p>No one wanted to get out of bed the next morning. Sandy actually had to forcefully drag Ryan as well as Seth out of their beds. They all met in the kitchen as they tried to find something to eat before they all had to leave.<p>

"Ryan, will you be finding out if you made the team this afternoon?" Sandy asked him as he drank some coffee.

"Probably." he mumbled.

"Well, call us as soon as you find out."

"Sure." he mumbled as there was two honks outside. "There's our rides."

"Which team did he try out for?" Hailey asked them as she sat at the counter with a bowl of cereal.

"The baseball team." Sandy told her.

"He's very excited about it." Kirsten told her.

"Are you sure about that?" Hailey looked at them.

"What do you mean?"

"He didn't look very excited about it to me."

"Maybe because he was exhausted from being woken up in the middle of the night. Just like the rest of us are."

"He looked more apprehensive to me."

"He's probably nervous about if he's going to make the team or not."

"I hope you're right." Hailey finished her breakfast and went back out to the pool house.

"Do you think she's right?" Sandy looked at Kirsten.

"I don't know. He such a closed book." she sighed. "I better go. I need to make a stop before I go to work."

"So you're really going to do that to Julie?" he looked at her. "Don't you think that's a little drastic?"

"After what she's been doing to Ryan? I'm just sorry I didn't do it sooner."

"Well, good luck." he told her as they both left for work.

* * *

><p>Ryan sat on the steps in front of the school entrance waiting for Seth to finish whatever it was that he was doing. Taylor couldn't take him home because her mom had planned some kind of mother-daughter bonding dinner. She wasn't really looking forward to it, but she had no choice. Ryan finally got tired of waiting for Seth and Summer and just decided to walk home. He reached the Cohen house and silently walked inside and went to get a drink from the refrigerator.<p>

"Hey, Ryan." Hailey came out to greet him.

"Hailey." he nodded at her as he took a mountain dew out of the refrigerator and took a big gulp.

"How were baseball tryouts?" she asked him as he went into the den.

"Fine." he mumbled.

"You know if you want Sandy and Kirsten to believe it, you're going to have to lie better than that."

"What are you talking about?" Ryan glanced at her as he turned on the TV.

"I've been lying to my dad since I was fourteen. I can spot a liar a mile away."

"Ok. So I never went to baseball tryouts like everyone wanted me to." he mumbled. "I'll just tell them that I didn't make it."

"And you think that they'll believe you?"

"I'm not sure."

"Well, I'll have your back." Hailey joined him on the couch.

"Why?" he looked at her. "It's not as if we liked each other from the beginning. So why would you help me?"

"As I recall, my dad didn't like you from the beginning either. And now, his place is your escape from this house. So maybe I want to get to know you better, too."

"You know, don't you?" he looked at her.

"Know what?"

"What happened in that place. Your dad told you, didn't he?" Ryan all of a sudden became defensive. "He said he wouldn't tell anyone. I should've known not to trust anyone with this."

"There's a reason he told me." she tried to calm him down. "He figured I would understand."

"Why would you understand this?"

"Ok. I didn't want to tell you this until we bonded a little." she sighed. "But I know what you're going through."

"How would you know what I'm going through?"

"Ok. This happened a long time ago. I hardly ever think about it anymore."

"Think about what?"

"Ok. I was sixteen. My parents were out of town, and Kirsten was still in Berkeley. I decided to throw an all-weekend party."

"Not really surprising me here."

"I'm not finished. It was just a couple hours before my parents were scheduled to arrive back home. There was this guy that had been really aggressive with me all weekend. He was this hot shot senior who never even looked twice at me during school."

"Did he-I mean, were you-"

"I was very inebriated the entire weekend so I barely remember it happening. But it was my first time."

"You were-r-raped?" Ryan looked at her.

"My parents arrived home early. My dad broke up the party. My mom found me passed out on my bed. She saw the stains and she immediately knew what happened. So she got me awake and she took me to the hospital."

"And what happened after everything went down?"

"Well, my mom was focused on getting me through it. But my dad was focused on wanting the guy to pay."

"And did he make him pay?"

"Well, he's Caleb Nichol. He owned half the town, even back then. Before I knew what was happening, the guy was being sentenced and he was sent away. He was really angry at me for messing up his future. He had a scholarship to play football at any college of his choice."

"So is he still in lockup?"

"He was released a few years ago. He was all about making ammends, but I wanted none of it."

"So is that why you're always partying? Or why you never stay in one place for too long?"

"Maybe. I can't be sure." she paused to glance at him. "My point for telling you this is that you're going to be fine. You'll get through this. It will take time, but it will happen."

"Yeah. Ok."

"And you need to let people in so they can help you. I know you feel disgusting right now, but you won't always feel like that. You need to let Sandy and Kirsten help you. They love you no matter what the people at that place told you-Yes, I'm pretty sure they messed with your head in there-Sandy and Kirsten are the good guys. They're the parents. You need to let them help you. It doesn't have to happen overnight, but try to open up to them. Just the stuff that you're comfortable with."

"Sure." Ryan sighed. "I think this is the longest conversation we've had."

"Seth isn't around to interrupt." She told him and he smirked.

* * *

><p>Ryan was in his room trying to finish the rest of his homework, but his mind kept wandering back to suppertime a few hours earlier. He felt guilty every time Sandy or Kirsten asked him how baseball tryouts went. He brushed off all their questions and told them that the final roster wouldn't be posted until the next day. He was supposed to be concentrating on his History project, but he kept going back to what Hailey told him about trusting Sandy and Kirsten. Maybe he should make the first move; he wasn't ready to talk about his stay in the unmentionable place, but he could start communicating with them more like Dr. Freedman suggested at every session he had with him. He turned off the computer and grabbed the flier he had gotten from school and started downstairs to find Sandy and Kirsten.<p>

* * *

><p>Sandy was doing some research for the upcoming custody trial that they had scheduled for in a few weeks. He heard someone coming down the stairs and assumed it was Ryan. He probably had another nightmare. He looked up as there was a knock on his office door and Ryan stuck his head in.<p>

"Hey, kid. Couldn't sleep?"

"I was doing some work on my History project." Ryan paused. "Can I come in? I need to talk to you."

"Sure." Sandy gestured for him to sit in one of the chairs before his desk as he closed his laptop and closed the folder that had all the important papers in it. "So what's up?"

"I lied to you. I've been lying to you and Kirsten that last couple of days."

"What are you talking about?"

"I never tried out for baseball. I just stayed at school long enough for you to think that I went to the tryouts."

"Why would you do that? You were looking forward to the tryouts."

"Was I?" Ryan looked at him.

"What do you mean?"

"Did you ever once hear me say that I wanted to try out?"

"I-"

"Everyone else kept saying that I should tryout. Luke said that they needed a better team, and decided that I should try out. I never wanted to."

"But you said you played when you were younger."

"The only reason that I signed up for all those sports teams when I was younger was so that I could get out of the house for a couple hours everyday. Playing baseball was better than helping Dawn sober up enough so that she could go into work so we wouldn't go without food."

"And all those times you went to the batting cages with Luke?"

"It was something fun to do."

"Ok." Sandy sighed as he got up from behind the desk and sat in the chair next to Ryan's. "So why didn't you tell us that you never wanted to try out?"

"Everyone was so excited for me to try out."

"Don't worry about how everyone else is feeling. You need to worry about how you're feeling. And you need to be honest. If you don't want to do something or you feel uncomfortable, let us know. Speak up."

"I know. And I'll try."

"That's all that we ask." Sandy assured him. "So what about when you joined soccer in the fall? Did you join that just to please us?"

"No. I liked playing soccer. In fact," Ryan pulled the flier out of his pocket and handed it to him. "They're having tryouts for an all-star soccer team."

"What exactly does this entail?"

"There's an informational meeting for parents Wednesday night."

"This is something you're really interested in?"

"Yes."

"All right. I'll talk to Kirsten about it." Sandy placed the flier on his desk. "So what made you decide to come talk to me?"

"Hailey. We talked this afternoon. She said I should trust you guys, and that I should try talking to you."

"We've been telling you that for weeks now. Along with Dr. Freedman. Why is it so different when Hailey tells you?"

"Hailey knows what I'm going through."

"Oh. So she told you." Sandy sighed. "She said she wasn't going to tell you right away."

"I kind of forced it out of her. I knew she wasn't telling me everything."

"Well, it's been a long night for both of us." Sandy pulled Ryan up as he stood up. "I think we need to get some sleep."

"You're probably right."

"Thank you for coming to me, Ryan. I missed talking to you when you actually answer me back."

"Yeah. I missed it too."

"So do you think there will be more instances like this?"

"Possibly." he smirked at him as he started up the stairs. "Good night, Sandy."

"Good night, kid." Sandy watched him go upstairs to his room and smiled in satisfaction. Maybe this is the first step to them finally starting to get back to being a family.

**AN: **So what'd you all think about this interesting turn of events? I know that it seems a little out-of-character for Hailey, but I always thought that there was another reason for all of her partying besides the fact that she was a trust fund kid. Anyway, PLZ R&R!


	23. Ch 22: What Ryan Wants

**AN: **Don't anyone kill me for not updating in so long. I took a little time off from my OC stories to focus on my Friends stories. I am back to writing these stories because I would like to start wrapping up these stories. So PLZ R&R!

**Disclaimer: **See earlier chapters.

**Chapter 22: What Ryan Wants**

Sandy and Kirsten were at the kitchen counter re-reading the flier that Ryan had brought home. Seth came in followed by Hailey, but Ryan was nowhere to be seen.

"Still reading the flier?" Seth grumbled.

"Are you guys going to the parent meeting?" Hailey asked them.

"We agreed to check it out." Kirsten told them. "Since it seems so important to Ryan."

"Where is Ryan?" Sandy looked at Seth.

"I think he's calling Taylor. Probably to tell her about his awesome plans this summer." Seth walked out of the room.

"He was a little upset when Ryan told him about his possible summer plans." Hailey told them. "I think he had made his own plans for them for the summer."

"He'll get over it." Sandy sighed.

"So are you going to let him try out?" Hailey asked again.

"We decided to go to the meeting tonight." Kirsten told her. "But we were supposed to take Ryan to another support group meeting."

"I can take him if you want. Besides, I don't think he's very comfortable going with you guys when he knows that you're watching the meeting the whole time."

"It might actually be better this way." Sandy looked at his wife. "He might actually talk if we're not there."

"Ok. You can take him." Kirsten relented as they heard a honk from outside.

"Taylor's here!" Ryan rushed down the stairs. "Did they go for it?"

"Hailey can take you tonight." Kirsten told him. "We'll be going to the meeting tonight."

"Thanks." Ryan started for the front door.

"Kid, don't forget your breakfast." Sandy tossed a bagel towards him and Ryan caught it before he headed out the door.

"So who's this Taylor girl?" Hailey asked.

"She's his lab partner in Chemistry." Kirsten told her. "She's helped him a lot these past few weeks. We definitely owe her a big thank you."

"Sounds like a girl I should meet."

* * *

><p>"Let it go, Cohen!" Summer rolled her eyes as Seth went on and on about all their summer plans being ruined. "Ryan likes his sports. It's not that surprising that he would want to go to some sort of sports camp."<p>

"But we had plans!"

"No, you had plans. And just assumed that Ryan would just do what you wanted him to."

"But-"

"Shut up, Cohen!"

"Is he still going on about it?" Ryan came up to them with Taylor. "Let it go, dude. I'm not even sure if Sandy and Kirsten will let me go at this point."

"They'll let you do anything you want at this point because of-everything."

"Well I don't think I should have to put everything I want to do on hold just to hang out with you to give you an ego boost."

Seth watched Ryan storm off as Summer and Taylor both smacked him on either side of his head and glared at him.

"Ow!" Seth grumbled as he rubbed his head and glanced at them both.

"Contrary to what you believe, Ryan is not living with you guys just so you can have a playmate whenever you feel the need." Taylor stated.

"So whatever your problem is with Ryan, you need to find a way to get over it." Summer added. "Because Ryan is here to stay, and he has other interests than comic books and video games like you."

"Walk with me, Summer." Taylor pulled her away and she followed her down the hall, leaving Seth in the middle of the hallway.

* * *

><p>Ryan followed behind Luke with his lunch tray as they tried to find a table to sit at. They found one near the vending machines and slid into the chairs as Luke continued to talk about the bomb his dad dropped on him a few nights ago.<p>

"So you're moving with your dad?" Ryan asked

"Yep. The divorce finally went through." Luke told him. "He wants a fresh start, and I think I do too."

"Well, I'll miss seeing you." Ryan revealed. "Maybe I can come and visit this summer."

"Absolutely, man. So you're really joining this all-star team?"

"It depends what Sandy and Kirsten find out at the meeting."

"I've always wanted to join." Luke told him. "I can't believe that Cohen is being such an ass because you want to do something for yourself."

"Apparently he's been planning our whole summer for us."

"I'm sure he'll get over it eventually." Ryan sighed in agreement as Summer and Taylor came up to join them.

"Where's Seth?" Ryan asked them.

"Who cares?" Summer mumbled. "I think he's being totally selfish about all of this."

* * *

><p>Ryan followed Hailey into the center where the support group meeting was held. They sat near the back as the moderator came forward to start the meeting.<p>

"This is really pointless," Ryan mumbled.

"It's not that bad." Hailey looked at him. "Some of these stories are really inspiring. To me they are anyway."

"They're great stories, but I am not standing up and telling my story."

"You don't have to if you don't want to."

"Sandy wants me to talk."

"Well Sandy's not here now is he?"

"Would anyone like to talk next?" the moderator asked the room.

"I will," Ryan heard Hailey say as he watched her stand up beside him. "I came here today to support my nephew, but I have a story of my own."

Ryan listened contently as Hailey shared in vivid detail about her experience. Everyone listened intently as Hailey went through the emotions.

"Thank you for sharing, Hailey." The moderator smiled at her. "Ryan, would you like to share this week?"

"I-" Ryan looked at all the eyes on him as Hailey patted him on the back.

* * *

><p>Sandy and Kirsten looked through the brochures and all the information as the speaker ended the meeting. Sandy was looking through all the equipment that Ryan would need as Kirsten was looking through the pictures of living quarters.<p>

"So what do you think?" Sandy looked at her.

"I think he'll want to go." She told him.

"Will you let him?"

"I don't know," she sighed. "On the one hand I would miss him. On the other hand it's the first thing he's been excited about in weeks."

"Let's go home and talk to Ryan about it." They left the school auditorium and walked out to their car.

They arrived home and walked inside to find it eerily quiet. They spotted Hailey watching TV in the living room and could hear video games coming from the den. They spotted empty pizza boxes sitting on the counter as Hailey spotted them and got off the couch to go greet them.

"Hey. How'd the meeting go?" Hailey asked them.

"Fine. How'd the support group go?"

"It was all right. I actually talked. They tried to encourage Ryan to talk, but he didn't want to."

"Why is it so quiet?" Sandy asked. "It hasn't been this quiet since before Ryan came."

"Seth and Ryan aren't speaking to each other." Hailey told them.

"What happened?"

"Ryan made summer plans that didn't include Seth."

"Seth is still upset about that?"

"He's even more upset after they had an argument at school that even Summer isn't talking to him because of it."

"Do you know what the argument was about?" Kirsten asked.

"Well I talked to Taylor a bit when she stopped by to see Ryan earlier. She said something about Ryan telling Seth that he wasn't going to not do things that he wants to do just so Seth can have a playmate."

"I think I'm going to go talk to Ryan," Kirsten started upstairs.

"I guess that leaves me to talk to Seth," Sandy walked into the den and shut off the TV. "We need to talk."

"Look, I'm sorry how I acted with Ryan." Seth looked at him as he sat down beside him.

"It's a nice apology, but I think it needs to be directed elsewhere."

"Do you think I haven't tried? Every time I approached him today, he walked off. Luke, Taylor, and Summer seemed to be guarding him all day."

"Then you need to keep trying."

"Fine."

"Do you not see how hard Ryan has been struggling since Oliver came along? He needs a lot of support right now."

"I know."

"He never had much of a childhood. He never had the chance to be a regular, care-free kid growing up. So if he's interested in something, your mother and I will look into doing anything we can to make it happen for him."

"Ok. I'll try again." Seth left the room and started upstairs.

Kirsten approached Ryan's room and knocked softly. She didn't hear a response, so she knocked again.

"Ryan, it's me. Can I come in?"

"Yeah." She heard him softly call and saw him sitting at his desk typing on his laptop.

"Are you doing your homework?" she asked him.

"I already finished it." He mumbled. "I'm messaging with Taylor."

"Can you sign off for a little bit while we talk?"

"Fine." He signed out and closed the laptop. "I'm not apologizing to him. I have nothing to be sorry for."

"I agree with you." She told him and he turned to look at her.

"Really?" he asked wearily.

"I agree that you need to do things that you're interested in, and not to worry about Seth. We've wanted you to do that since you moved in."

"So does that mean that I can join the soccer team?"

"Sandy and I are still talking about it."

"When will you know for sure?"

"A couple days maybe." She assured him as there was a knock at the door and it slowly opened to reveal Seth standing in the doorway.

"I just wanted to say that I'm sorry for how I've been acting today." He told them.

"I accept your apology," Ryan glared at him. "But that doesn't mean that I like you right now."

"I understand."

"I think I deserve the right to do what I want to do; not just to be here to hang out with you when you feel the need."

"He's right, you know." Kirsten looked at Seth.

"I know," Seth left the room, closing the door behind him.

"What else did you want to talk about?" Ryan looked at Kirsten.

"I just wanted to see how the support group went tonight."

"I know Hailey already told you." He mumbled. "I told you that I wasn't going to talk. You'll be lucky if I decide to talk to you about it."

"Well one more meeting, then you can forget about these meetings."

"Good." Ryan sighed.

"All right. I'll leave you alone now." Kirsten stood up. "Don't stay up too late."

"I won't." he watched her leave and booted up his laptop again.

* * *

><p>Ryan was sleeping soundly one weekend morning; he was finally sleeping through the whole night now. He hadn't had any nightmares for awhile now, and they were all relieved. But they knew that there was a big possibility that they would come back full force when he had to go into court.<p>

His door slowly opened and Ryan turned over to see Sandy slowly coming into his room.

"Is it time already?" Ryan asked him.

"Not yet." Sandy told him. "Kirsten and I want to talk to you in the kitchen."

"Ok." He slowly got out of bed and followed Sandy downstairs and into the kitchen.

Ryan could smell the coffee brewing as Kirsten was getting some bagels out for all of them. He sat down on one of the stools at the counter as he spotted all the information about the all star camp spread out before him.

"So we have made a decision about the team," Sandy started.

"And?" Ryan looked at them, hopeful.

"And we've decided that you can do it." Kirsten told him.

"Seriously?" he smiled at them.

"We've already filled out the form, your coach wrote a letter of recommendation, and Seth edited a DVD that he took at one of your games. So do you still want to go?"

"Yeah, I do. It's just-"

"What?" Sandy looked at him. "What has you so concerned?"

"W-What if my nightmares come back while I'm there? If I have to share a room with someone-"

"You get your own room when you're there." Kirsten interrupted him. "It's like living in a dorm."

"Oh."

"We can talk about everything later," Sandy told him. "We all need to eat some breakfast, and head out. I have a feeling that this is going to be a long day."

Ryan finished his bagel and coffee and went up stairs to get changed for the day ahead. He heard Kirsten calling for him and he went downstairs and met up with everyone else. They all went out to the range rover and they started their journey to their destination.

**AN:** So what'd you all think? Where do you think the Cohen's are going? PLZ R&R!


	24. Chapter 23: Court Date 1

**AN: **I know that it's been awhile, but I'm having a little difficulty finishing this up. But this chapter is a little longer than I usually write. Hopefully you like this one. PLZ R&R!

**Disclaimer: **See earlier chapters.

**Chapter 23: Court Date 1**

Ryan sat on the uncomfortable wooden bench in between Kirsten and Seth; both he and Seth were in suits, and Kirsten was in a pant suit. He and Seth had settled their differences the day before and Seth wasn't that upset about Ryan leaving anymore. Especially since before he left, Luke had invited both Seth and Ryan out to Portland to stay with him and his dad halfway through their summer vacation.

Sitting across from the three of them were Alex, and his grandparents, Reggie and Emma. Andrew was in the room just feet away from them talking to the DA; Rachel was in with him so the interrogation didn't get out of hand.

"How are you doing?" Kirsten asked him softly.

"I'm not sure," he looked at her.

"There's nothing to worry about. Rachel is here, so all you need to do is tell her that you're not comfortable if it comes to that."

"I know." He started shaking his leg up and down. "I'm glad you're here and everything, but where is Sandy?"

"He went to go see if we can schedule the hearing to revoke Dawn's parental rights."

The door opened and Andrew came out to them, and Alex went in the room. Andrew gave him a smile before the door closed behind him. He sat next to his gramps and lay his head back on the wall behind him. They all looked up when they heard scurrying feet and Ryan saw Sandy rushing down the hall towards them.

"Sorry," he slid into the seat in between Kirsten and Ryan. "That went longer than I thought it would."

"It's ok." Ryan told him. "So did you schedule the hearing?"

"Next week." Sandy told him. "We'll worry about that later, though. How are you doing?"

"I'm ok." He shrugged. "I just want this over with."

"I know, kid." They were all quiet once again for the next several minutes.

They all looked up as the door opened five minutes later and Alex came out to join his brother and grandparents. Ryan slowly stood up and made his way into the private chambers. He glanced back at the Cohen's one last time before the door closed behind him.

Ryan turned to look at the room that he had just stepped into. It was a small room with just one long wooden table; Rachel was sitting on one side and the DA was sitting on the other side.

"Hello, Ryan." The lady DA smiled at him. "Please take a seat."

Ryan slowly sat in the chair next to Rachel as the DA took out a blank notepad. He started to break out in a cold sweat and Rachel noticed this.

"It's ok, Ryan." Rachel assured him. "We don't want you to go into vivid detail about anything. We just want to know what happened."

"All right." He said softly as the DA started asking him questions.

* * *

><p>Kirsten could barely sit still for even a minute at a time while they waited for Ryan to come back out. Sandy took her hand to try to calm her a little bit and she glanced at him.<p>

"I wish we could be in there with him." She sighed deeply.

"I wish we could, too." He told her. "But he doesn't want us to hear anything about what went on."

"I know." She kept glancing at the door to see if it was opening yet.

Ten minutes later, the door finally opened and Ryan came back out to them looking totally drained. Kirsten immediately went to him and embraced him tightly as Sandy glanced at Rachel coming out of the room behind Ryan. She gave him a reassuring nod as Kirsten released Ryan.

"Are you ok?" she asked him.

"Can we just go home?" he asked softly.

"Of course. Let's go." They all said good-bye to Alex, Andrew, and their grandparents and made their way out to the car.

Seth silently climbed into the car and glanced at Ryan, who was silent as he leaned his head against the window and stared out of it mindlessly. They reached the house and Ryan immediately went inside.

"Are you hungry, Ryan?" Kirsten asked him.

"No." he mumbled.

"You need to eat something."

"I'm not hungry." He snapped.

"Ryan," Sandy warned him. "I understand that today was a long day for you, but that is no reason for you to be disrespectful."

"Sorry." Ryan looked at Kirsten. "I just want to go upstairs and be left alone for awhile."

"That's fine." Kirsten told him. "Why don't I just make you something and leave it outside your door for you?"

"Ok."

"I actually need to run to the office really quick." Sandy told them. "I shouldn't be gone very long, but when I get back I want to hear that you've eaten something."

"Fine," Ryan started up the stairs as Sandy turned to Seth.

"I know," Seth began. "Leave Ryan alone."

"Let him seek you out first, all right?"

"Got it." Seth walked into the den.

"What do you need to do at the office?" Kirsten looked at Sandy.

"I need to try to get a hold of Trey and see if I can get him out of jail for the hearing next weekend."

"Good luck." She told him as he walked out of the house again and she went into the kitchen.

Kirsten started to make Ryan a turkey sandwich as the patio doors opened and Hailey came in from the pool house.

"Hey," she sat at the counter. "How'd it go?"

"It was all right." Kirsten sighed. "Ryan's in his room though, so I'm making him something that he will hopefully want to eat."

"Just give him a little space. He'll come to you when he's ready."

"I know. It's just so hard." Kirsten sighed as she put the sandwich on a small plate and grabbed some iced tea from the fridge. "I'm going to take this up to him."

Kirsten started upstairs when the doorbell started to ring.

She set the plate down on the table in the hallway as there was harsh pounding added to the frantic doorbell ringing. She pulled open the door and stood shocked at the person standing before her.

"Dawn."

* * *

><p>Of all the people that Kirsten expected to see when she opened her front door, Dawn Atwood wasn't one of them. The woman before her was totally disheveled; her hair and makeup were a mess, and she was trying to make her way into the house.<p>

"Dawn-"

"Where is he?" she demanded. "Where is Ryan? I need to talk to him."

"He's in his room. He's kind of had a long day."

"I need to talk to him."

"Mom?" she looked back and saw Hailey and Seth standing in the doorway leading to the kitchen. "Is everything all right?"

"Everything is fine." Kirsten told them before turning back to Dawn. "I understand that you want to see Ryan, but he's in his room laying down."

"Why? It's the middle of the afternoon."

"I told you, he's had a very long day so far."

"What, was he out drinking all night? And now he's sleeping it off?"

"No, I wasn't." they all looked back to see Ryan descending the stairs.

"Ry, baby-"

"Stay where you are." He glared at her. "Someone call the police."

"I'm on it." Hailey snatched up the house phone.

"You would really do that to your own mother?"

"Why are you here Dawn?" Ryan demanded. "You haven't tried to contact me since you walked away from me. So why are you here?"

"I wanted to see you."

"Why now? Could it be that you received some papers and decided that you didn't want me to finally be happy because you're not happy?"

"Ryan, you're still my son."

"No, I'm not. I stopped being your son the minute dad was arrested. From that point on, I just became a play thing for all the losers you brought home."

"I didn't realize what was going on." Dawn pleaded with him. "If I had known-"

"You knew everything that went on." Ryan's voice started to falter. "You would stay on the couch drinking heavily with the TV up full blast knowing full well what was going on behind closed doors."

"It's ok, honey." Kirsten went to Ryan when she saw signs of a breakdown.

"I'm done." Ryan stated as he glared at Dawn. "Even if they don't adopt me, I will never return to you. Ever. I will tell the judge everything that went on while I was still living with you."

"Kiki-" they all watched the door open and Caleb came in. "What's going on here? Who is this?"

"Dad, this is Dawn Atwood." Kirsten told him. "This is Ryan's mother."

"Yes, I've heard quite a bit about you." Caleb glanced at the frazzled-looking woman and spotted the distraught state that Ryan was in as Kirsten held him tightly.

"Who in the hell are you?" Dawn demanded.

"I'm this boys' grandfather." He saw Ryan starting to calm down. "Are you ok, Ryan?"

"She's not my mother." Ryan stated, a little taken aback by the fact that Caleb called himself his grandfather.

"It sounds like the police are here," Seth saw the lights out the window.

"Why don't you get out of here?" Kirsten looked at Ryan. "There's no need for you to be here right now."

"I'll take you somewhere." Hailey told him. "Where do you want to go?"

"Take him to the Newport Group." Caleb told her as he handed over his car keys. "Wait for me in my office. There's something I wanted to show you anyway. Kirsten and I will meet you there after we talk to the police."

"Let's go," Hailey led Ryan out the back as Seth followed and they got into Caleb's car and pulled away.

* * *

><p>Hailey let Ryan and Seth into Caleb's office and Ryan silently sat in one of the leather chairs in front of the desk.<p>

"We might be here awhile so I'm going to go get us some snacks from the vending machine down the hall." Hailey told them as she walked out.

"Well if we're going to be here awhile-" Seth went to the desk and turned on the computer.

"What are you doing?" Ryan asked softly.

"Getting on the internet. I know grandpa's password." Seth told him. "Does that All-Star camp have a website? We could check out the facilities."

"Fine." Ryan joined him at the computer.

"Hey Seth," Hailey stuck her head in the room. "Do you have any change?"

"Yeah." He followed her out and Ryan typed the camp's web address into the browser.

He started browsing the site as he heard the door open again. He didn't look up, figuring it was Hailey and Seth returning with their snacks.

"What are you doing in here?" his head shot up at the unfriendly voice.

"I could ask you the same thing." He glared at her.

"I have more of a right to be here than you do."

"How do you figure that?" Hailey and Seth returned. "My father finally had the good sense to kick you out of his life."

"Hailey, I heard you were back in town." Julie Cooper glared at her. "So when will you be leaving again?"

"I'm here for an extended stay. My family needs me. And it's a bonus that it would drive you crazy."

"You don't have permission to be here." Seth went into the room with Ryan.

"And he does?" Julie turned to look at Ryan.

"Yes, actually." Ryan spoke up. "Caleb told Hailey to bring me here while he dealt with something. He wanted to show me something."

"He's probably going to drop you off at the bus station-"

"I certainly will not." Caleb came in to them. "What are you doing here Julie?"

"I needed to talk to Kirsten about something. Then I found this-riff raff-here in your office."

"That is no way to talk about my grandson."

"Grandson? Is this some new strategy? Get him to let his guard down and go in for the kill?"

"I'm not planning to do anything to Ryan."

"Really?"

"I misjudged him when we first met; so did you. It might be in your best interest to let your feelings about him go."

"Like that'll happen." Seth mumbled. "She's been harassing him since he got back home."

"You've been what?"

"Alex told me." Seth briefly glanced at Ryan before turning back to his grandfather. "We think she knows what happened to him in there."

"Of course I know." Julie told them. "Why do you think I had him sent to that place."

The entire room went silent as what Julie just revealed slowly sunk into them. Ryan started shaking as Hailey lunged at Julie. Seth tried to pull her back to no avail. Caleb stepped in to calm his daughter, giving Ryan the opportunity to slip out of the room. He ran into Kirsten and Sandy coming from Kirsten's office.

"Ryan? What's going on, kid?" Sandy stopped him.

"I need to get out of here."

"Where are you going?"

"I don't know. I just need to get out of here."

"Ok." Kirsten stepped in as she handed him the keys. "Go on back to the house, and we'll be there in a little bit."

"Fine." He bolted down the hall towards the elevator as they walked down the hall towards Caleb's office.

"What was that about?"

"I guess we'll find out when we get home."

They walked into Caleb's office and saw all the chaos. Julie was there; Hailey was screaming out names at her as Seth and Caleb both tried to calm her back.

"Aunt Hailey, she is so not worth it!" Seth finally managed to pull her back.

"What is going on?" Kirsten demanded. "And why did Ryan just run out of here as if the place was on fire?"

"Ask that bitch." Hailey glared at Julie. "It's all her fault."

"Why are you even here Julie?" Kirsten glared at her. "You should've gotten the paperwork by now."

"I wanted to know why you filed a restraining order against me." Julie approached her.

"Are you really that stupid?" Kirsten spat at her. "You have been harassing Ryan since he arrived in town. Constantly blaming him for all of your train wreck of a daughter's many problems, when really you should look in the mirror to see the cause of all of her problems."

"Mom," Seth looked at her. "She had Ryan sent to the facility."

"What?!" Both Sandy and Kirsten exclaimed.

"Kirsten-" Julie started.

"I'm going to call Harbor and have Marissa removed from all of Ryan's classes. If you even look over the fence between our houses, if you and Marissa so much as breathe in his direction I will have you both arrested."

"We should go find Ryan." Caleb told them all as they started out of the office. "I'll call security to have-this-escorted out of here."

"Ryan should be home by now." Sandy told them. "I think just the three of us should approach him right now."

"But Hailey stay close in case we need some backup." Kirsten told her.  
>"You got it." She started to follow them out to their car.<p>

"Call me later and tell me how it went." Caleb told them as they all parted ways.

* * *

><p>When they got back to the house, Hailey retreated into the den as Sandy slowly ascended the stairs by himself hoping that Ryan was up in his room. When he had arrived home earlier, his stomach dropped when he saw the police cars in the driveway. He thought something had happened again and Ryan was being taken away. As he climbed out of his car and saw Dawn Atwood being led out to a patrol car, he sighed with complete relief.<p>

He rushed into the house and found Kirsten and his father-in-law talking to a police officer. After the officers left, Kirsten told him what happened. They made their way to the Newport Group to meet up with Ryan, Seth, and Hailey and to make sure that Ryan was all right after the run-in with Dawn. When Ryan practically plowed them over to get to the exit, they knew something else had happened.

He just never imagined that it was because of something that Julie Cooper did. The nerve of that woman doing everything that she had to Ryan; and all because she wanted him out of her daughter's life. He was a little surprised that Kirsten had kept herself so calm. Her reaction could've been so much worse.

Sandy slowly opened Ryan's bedroom door and saw no sign of him, but he heard a noise coming from the closet. He knelt down in front of the doors and slid it open. He had a brief glimpse of Ryan before the door slid shut again.

"I know what all happened today, kid." Sandy spoke through the closed door. "None of it was your fault, ok?"

"I know." He heard the whispered response.

Sandy looked up as he saw Kirsten come in with a plate of food for Ryan with Seth following behind her. He gestured to the closet and she knelt next to him and knocked on the door.

"Ryan?" Kirsten ventured. "I have something for you to eat."

"I don't want it." Came the muffled reply.

"You weren't able to eat lunch here today, and you didn't have any snacks. You need to eat something."

"No."

"It's grilled cheese." There was silence for a moment, then the door slid open and Kirsten pushed the plate into the closet before the door closed again.

"Ryan, I know a lot happened today." Sandy started. "I know you just want to forget about it, but I don't think that's a wise move anymore. So I think it's time."

"Time for what?" the whispered voice replied.

"Time for you to get everything out in the open. It's not good to keep everything bottled up."

"No."

"Here's the deal." Sandy looked at Seth hovering in the doorway. "We're all going to stay in this room until you're ready to talk. We don't want details; we just want you to talk about what happened."

"No."

"We'll all be here sitting quietly," Sandy looked at Seth. "Waiting for you to start talking."

Silence followed as the other three settled in near the closet for what they knew would be a very long wait. Seth picked up a nearby magazine and started flipping through it as both Sandy and Kirsten started checking the messages on their phones.

A few hours later, Sandy was startled when the closet door slowly slid open and the plate was pushed out. He turned to look at Ryan settled against the back wall of the closet behind some of the tuxes that he had worn to the Newpsie events in the past.

"Ok. I'm ready to talk."

**AN: **So what'd you all think? Just so you know the next chapter won't be too graphic. But Ryan will finally start the long healing process. PLZ R&R!


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